Learning to Heal the Hurt Book I: Fire Red
by Saya1450
Summary: It had only been a freak accident. Just a stupid freak accident. Yet it had changed my life forever.Rated T for violence, guns in later chapters, blood, and mild language.
1. Prologue

_This is my origonal fic,Learning to Heal the Hurt, except it is a much better, revised/rewritten version. I've alsoadded a prologue, and totally rewritten chapter one and a few other chapters. This fic will be 12 chapters long plus the prologue and the epilogue. I hope you'll enjoy my fic as much as I've enjoyed writing it! All I ask is that you give some feedback, preferebly positive (I'm a very sensitive person), but if you feel inclined to flame me do so, though I might just start hating you._

_-Saya1450-_

**Learning to Heal the Hurt – Book I: Fire Red**  
**Prologue**

_From two shining orbs comes an eternal glow,  
__Foraged 'neath the earth below.  
__When two ancient Pokemon raged on the earth,  
__This is how the orbs were birthed._

_When fire erupted from under the ground,  
__And the sea's waves were all around,  
__The fire dragon came from the earth's core,  
__And the water monster from the ocean floor._

_The two clashed in an ancient battle,  
__Fire and water made the earth rattle.  
__The wind raged, surrounding the two  
__Making the nightmares of all come true._

_The fire dragon glowed with embers,  
__It was so bright that you would remember.  
__The water monster blew off a coal;  
__It flew in the air and landed in the shoal._

_The small raindrop from the water monster flew,  
__It shinned and simmered with a sapphire hue.  
__The fire dragon blew its hot breath  
__Which dried it out so it wasn't wet._

_The coal from the dragon and the drop from the monster,  
__Turned to two stones, that were even harder.  
__They laid to rest in the shoal and the shore,  
__Hoping, just hoping that there was more._

_Finally, the two ancient Pokemon left.  
__They fell to their homes for an eternal rest.  
__And as for the orbs they still hope and pray  
__For the time when someone finds them, since that fateful day._

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Its time was nearing. Its time was so close that the creature was acutely aware of it like a dagger lodged deep in its chest. Oh, how it had waited in timeless agony for this day, reaching out its searching tendrils, hoping for a repeatedly denied success. Years, centuries, and even millennia had passed with no hope in sight for its wavering senses. Yet it had refused to give up time and time again, for it held on desperately to the knowledge that a time would eventually come when it would be released from its dreadful prison.

It could feel that day drawing nearer and nearer with each agonizingly slow second that passed. It _would_ rise again; it _would_ be whole in mind and body as it had been before that terrible separation, it vowed to itself day after day. It would all begin when one unimportant, unknowing human laid its hands upon a stone. When one oblivious mortal found a stone the inevitable chain of events would be set into full swing. It knew, deep in its black heart, that the time when it would rise again was drawing swiftly nearer…

----------

Who would have ever thought that my life could flip upside-down so quickly and unexpectedly? I mean, come on, I, Talia O'Connel, was thirteen and feeling like I was at the prime of my lifetime. I was an average kid living my average life in an almost -average home, and attending an average school. I had a mother but, unlike most kids, no father, and I was an only child. My father had died when I was a baby, leaving my mother a single parent to make her own way in life while raising and supporting me. I had to admit, she had done a pretty good job of it too.

I had friends, after school activities, and homework to take up most of my time. Like a normal kid I had the regular everyday troubles with grades and school, but nothing major ever came up; that is, except for the death of my only surviving relative, my Grandma. Even that wasn't too tragic for me, as I hardly knew her anyway. She'd been suffering from the memory loss disease of Alzheimer's for the last twenty years. You could say that I was an extremely sheltered kid who rarely ever encountered a harder task than choosing which outfit I was to wear each morning. Unknown to me, the years ahead would be the hardest, and most grueling I had ever known in my life. I didn't know it then, but what was about to happen would change my easy life forever.


	2. Chapter 1: The Hurt

Learning to Heal the Hurt - BookI: Fire Red  
Chapter 1: The Hurt

It was all my fault.

'No it isn't', other people tried telling me, 'It was just an unfortunate accident. You had nothing to do with it'. I couldn't listen to them. I knew there had to have been something I could've done to prevent this tragedy! Yet, unknowingly, I had done nothing to help the matter. It was because of one of my actions that this had happened, and I knew it too. Because of it my mother was dead, and there was nothing I could do about that. The accident had happened a full seven days ago, but the horrible images still refused to be banished from my mind, no matter how hard I tried, torturing my dreams. No one had been able to console and comfort me in the last week. I did not want pity; I wanted revenge.

Saturday, June 5th had started out as a wonderfully warm day, the temperature resting in the low eighties, and the sun caressing the world below with its soft, golden fingers. I had been standing in the small plot of grass I called a yard at the front of my house, fully enjoying the first day of summer vacation. School had let out only the previous day, and I was marveling at my newfound freedom.

Deri Kemp, one of my best friends, had set out on a Pokemon journey the hour school let out, with another of my friends, Reenie Amier. He had been planning this journey and departure with his parents for weeks, and was barely able to sit still on the last day of the school year. I couldn't blame him. Pokemon training had been Deri's passion for years. When we were younger, Reenie, Deri and I had spent hours planning out all the exciting adventures we'd have together when Deri turned thirteen, the minimum age requirement for a Pokemon trainer. Deri's parents were forever complaining about the minimum age for Pokemon trainers. According to them the youngest you were allowed to start a Pokemon journey had been fifteen when they were kids, and the age had been rapidly decreasing ever since. 'Before you know it', Deri's dad always told us, 'we'll have ten year olds rushing around Hoenn proclaiming _they're_ Pokemon trainers!' We'd always scoffed at this.

Reenie and I had never shared Deri's passion for Pokemon training, but we both loved adventure. So, we agreed to accompany him when he was old enough to start. Though, when the time came for Deri to actually leave, I found that my summer jobs, and weekly earnings, were a much-needed addition to my mother's monthly wages. Money had been an issue in my household all my life, but never as severely as this. So, unable to leave my mother alone to fend for herself, I'd forced myself not to go with them, or join into Reenie and Deri's constant planning sessions. It almost made me sad to think of my two best friends away on some exciting journey with out me. I knew, though, that my mother came first, and nothing could change that.

I lived in a small neighborhood directly outside of the busy streets of Sandar City, Hoenn. Sandar wasn't a ridiculously large city, as Rustboro, Mossdeep, and Slateport were, but to me it was the largest group of buildings I'd ever seen stacked together in one place. Each house in my neighborhood stood barely two feet from its neighbor, with only a tiny plot of grass in the front and back of the place. Reenie lived only a few blocks to the north of me, and her yard was about three times the size of mine. Naturally, I'd spent most of my childhood romping with Reenie and her four brothers around their yard. Deri lived a little farther away, but could always reach us within a fifteen-minute bike ride that became shorter as the years passed and we grew up.

On that terrible day of June 5th, unknown to me, I'd left the front door of my house slightly ajar in my haste to get outside. That was when everything began to go wrong. After taking a few deep breaths of the fresh summer air, I'd turned around and begun to head back inside, where the air was cooler. Stepping inside I'd been just in time to catch the first glimpse of my mother coming down the steps to the foyer from the second story of our house. She had two huge baskets balanced precariously on her hips, one of laundry, one of other various household items.

"Oh, Talia!" She'd said, smiling at me as she began to descend the steps, "I have something for…" Those were the last words she ever spoke to me. From there, it all happened so fast that even now I barely can recall what happened. All I remember is the sharp yap of a Pokemon, and a brown blur rushing up the steps toward my mother's feet. Before I had time to call out a warning she'd blundered right into the creature.

The harsh, guttural cries of a Pokemon rang out across the room, almost drowning out the surprised shout from my mother, before she tripped over the small, brown striped figure at her feet, and plummeted downward. The full baskets of clothing and inanimate objects prohibited her from catching herself on the wall or the banister. If she hadn't been carrying the baskets, her life might've been saved.

With one last terrified shout, my mother tumbled headfirst down the stairway, entangled in the small Pokemon that had tripped her. The sickening crack of a human skull against hard tile resonated throughout the room, leaving only a deafening silence, broken by the pitiful cries of "Zig! Zigzagoon!" from the terrified Pokemon, in its wake. I stood there, utterly immobile, my limbs frozen in shock and numb terror. Aliana O'Connel lay in a twisted position, a position I was sure was unnatural for any normal human being. She wasn't moving at all, her chestnut hair masking her face, and I couldn't even tell if she was breathing or not. Clothing, towels and bed sheets, pens, paper, toys and loose change lay scattered all over the floor and stairs, debris from the baskets she'd been carrying when she fell.

I couldn't move, could barely even breathe, as those horrible images kept playing and replaying themselves in my mind. I didn't even know what condition she was in; if she was alive, seriously injured or…dead. The Zigzagoon struggled shakily to its feet, gazing terrorized at the scene around it. Snapping back to my senses I turned, screaming kicking, waving my arms madly, and chased the Pokemon from my house. It had injured my mother. I could not have it running around my house unhurt while my mother was not! Utterly exhausted, bone-weary and terror stricken, unable to do anything, I sank down onto my knees, and stared dumbly at nothing.

The shouts of my mother and the cries of the Pokemon must've carried out to the neighbor's house, because the next thing I knew Judy Sullivan, my high school aged neighbor, had poked her head through the front door. A sharp gasp escaped her lips, and the next thing I knew people were rushing about, ordering me left and right. Barely minutes later an ambulance came roaring up to our front door, and carted my mother away in a balloon of light and roaring sound. I could not think, couldn't even comprehend what had happened.

When Mrs. Amier, who had taken the time to come and be with me, to comfort me, though I would not respond to anything she said, gently took me aside and told me the horrifying news I fell into a vortex of my own world. I couldn't think, couldn't make contact with anyone outside myself. My mother, my caring beautiful mother had died. The fall had killed her. She'd felt no pain.

The next week passed in a whirling blur of faces, each paying their respects over my mother's death, each attempting to comfort me. Behind that mask of caring and sorrow I could sense a relief, a kind of pity, that the orphan girl standing before them was not their own child. I hated them for that. The only ones who might've been able to comfort me in the week immediately following my mother's death would've been Reenie and Deri, my best friends. They, alas, were away on a journey at the time. I didn't even know if they knew about her death.

I could barely keep myself on my feet after my mother's death. I could barely comprehend what was going on, and it was only later that I realized what had been happening during that week. The funeral processions were carried out, none of which I saw with my unseeing eyes, locked in my own world, and Aliana O'Connel was placed beneath the surface as her final destination in this life. Mrs. Amier, Mrs. Kemp and Deri's younger sisters, Ruth and Yaliana, had taken full control of my life, my house and my belongings, reading through my mother's will, with the help of a lawyer, and organizing the distribution of our tiny 'fortune'. In all that time I didn't help them. In all that time not one single tear fell from my eyes. I was in a complete state of shock.

This morning I'd stepped out of the Kemps house, without telling anybody where I was heading, as I didn't even know myself, and began to walk. It didn't take me long before I finally found myself standing in the sidewalk by my house, the place I had lived peacefully only a week before with my mother. I just stood there, dumbly staring up at the small gray-sided structure, torturing memories releasing themselves on my unprotected mind. As I'd stared up at the house I had this strange urge, this sudden need, for revenge. Though I knew it had been my fault my mother had died, and my life had changed forever, I wanted revenge on something. I wanted something to blame, beside myself, for this catastrophe that had befallen my family. I couldn't live with myself if I didn't do anything. Someone had to pay.

My thoughts immediately flashed back to the terrible day, and that tiny streak of brown catapulting towards my mother's descending figure; the shocked expression registering in her pretty face as she fell; the ugly cries of the Pokemon afterward, calling out in its pain beside my mother's still figure. It had been the cause of my pain, and it would pay dearly. Not just that tiny, insignificant Zigzagoon, but also the whole species of Pokemon.

Anger began to seethe up into my mind, blotting out all other thought. Pokemon would pay for what they had done to me, for what they had done to my mother. I would make sure of that. Blinded by rage, I stumbled around to the side of my house, struggling to keep myself under control. I would leave this place, this place of misery and death. I couldn't stay here any longer. I had to leave.

Grabbing my bicycle I wheeled it out onto the driveway, and, without even bothering to strap on my helmet, I took off, peddling as fast as I could onto the street. People milled about the sidewalk on the first sunny day of the summer, enjoying the sunshine with their friends or families. At least, I thought bitterly, they actually had families to enjoy it with. Bitterness and anger swelled inside me, powered with the recent wound over my mother's death. I rode through the crowded city streets, heedless of the passersby milling around me, shouting at me to watch out or slow down. I didn't listen to them, as I was lost too deep into my own problems.

Why did this have to happen to me? What had I ever done to deserve this? I had led a completely innocent life as far as I was concerned. I hadn't done anything terribly wrong, but now my mother was mercilessly ripped from me! I wasn't ready to lose her yet! I still needed her, relied on her for most of my needs! I was angry at the world, angry with everyone and everything, but most of all, I was angry with Pokemon. They had to pay.

I rode for what seemed like hours, the wind whipping my dusty brown hair around my face. I flew through the city of Sandar, Hoenn, the place I had lived all my life. Many people knew me here, but not many would care about my recent loss. The world was a vast, uncaring place. I would learn that the hard way in the weeks to come.

Only once I had reached the outskirts of Sandar City did I begin to tire out, my leg muscles beginning to feel the strain of riding for hours. The sun was high overhead by this time, blazing down on my lone figure. Fatigue began to take my sweat-laden body, and I slowly began to lessen my speed.

Without warning, my bike wheel struck a hump in the otherwise smooth cement of the road, totally taking me by surprise. Before I could do anything to stop myself I was flying over the handlebars of my bike, and sprawling onto the road. Pain erupted in my head and leg through my sudden tears, and I quickly scrabbled to my feet, tears streaming down my face. Surveying the damage done from the fall I found that my arms, face and legs were covered in tiny scrapes and blood. My knee was bleeding heavily.

Crying, I stumbled off the road, leaving my damaged bike behind, and made a break for the forest. I had to get out of here, had to get out of this cursed place I had lived in for years. My mother was dead, there was nothing left in life for me anymore. I was only one small, unimportant girl, left to the horrible cruelty of the world.

Stumbling a few more feet into the forest I fell to the ground, my whole body aching, and entirely exhausted. My tears suddenly began to fall faster, and harder than before. They quickly elevated into sobs, wracking my whole body with grief, anger and pain. I shook, letting myself cry. I hadn't cried in the week since my mother's death, but I couldn't stop myself now. I needed to cry. My mother was gone forever, but I was out to get revenge.


	3. Chapter 2: Fire Red

Sorry it took me so long to get the next chapter up, but here it is. Thank you for the reviews andI hope you'll keep onreading!

-Saya1450-

Learning to Heal the Hurt – Book I: Fire Red  
Chapter 2: Fire Red

It was well past the midnight hour when I stumbled blindly over a group of large, strong vines hanging tauntingly from a nearby maple. I cursed, balancing myself crazily on one foot as I clumsily attempted to free my other foot. As soon as my foot was free, I set it down and began moving into the dark trees again. Promptly, I tripped over a fallen log thrown stubbornly in my path. Letting forth a stream of violent curses (most of which my mother certainly would not approve of) I glared down at the mucky damp floor of the forest, which was now about two inches away from my face. The deep earthy smell of the rotting leaves and undergrowth filled my nose along with the clean smell of damp soil. I pulled myself to my aching feet, and proceeded to wipe the worst of the mud off my clothing and icy hands before plowing on again into the darkness of the night.

If you've ever been out alone in the middle of the night, even if it's in your own backyard, it's usually a little freaky. I'm not the kind of person who scares easily, but the darkness of the woods was beginning to get to my brain so much that I jumped at every little sound. I plowed on attempting to ignore the stories flashing through my head about people who were caught in the forest at the…

I jumped and froze, my heart pounding so loudly in my ears I could have sworn the people in Kanto, the farthest region from Hoenn, could hear it. I had heard a noise somewhere over in the trees off to my left. _It was nothing, absolutely nothing; just my imagination running away with me_, I tried soothing my terrorized mind over and over. I couldn't believe myself. _I just have to keep on moving_, I told myself, _it was nothing_. I forced my stiff leg to take another step forward, planting my foot firmly in the soft earth beneath me before picking the other one up and moving it past the first. One leg, then the other, one leg, then the other, one leg, and then the other…

This went on for sometime, allowing my mind to stay firmly attentive only to what I was doing so that it didn't stray to other things, other things that would leave me both immobilized and defenseless, or emotion stricken and irrational. Finally, I was able to calm my frazzled nerves and move easily without freezing up every time a twig snapped or a leaf fell.

I was stupid, I realized as I continued my never-ending trek through the forest, leaving home like that with nothing but the clothes on my back. I mean, I was out here in the wilderness all alone in the dead of night, totally defenseless with not even a measly knife to protect me, not that a knife would have done me much good anyway. I had no food or water to survive on, and I hadn't eaten anything since early this morning. Worst of all I was tired and hungry, as my stomach now informed me, with the night's chill just beginning to settle deep into my very bones.

I was out here for a reason, I reminded myself, and that reason was cold hard revenge. Revenge for the cruel, heartless deed of my mother's death. I felt my eyes begin to darken with a red mist, and my body grow colder than any chilling wind could make it as the rational part of my mind began to slip. I pushed my rage down into a deep corner of my mind to let it simmer and grow for later. Right now if I let my emotions take hold of me I would surely get hurt. There were wild creatures out in the night, searching for easy defenseless prey, like myself, to wander straight in to their waiting hands.

What was that! This time it wasn't a suspicious sound that stopped me dead in my tracks. I thought I had seen a bit of red flashing somewhere over in the corner of my eye. Staying deathly still, I waited for it to appear again so that I would know I hadn't dreamed it up. There it was again! I whipped my head around, dark brown hair flying out behind me, blue eyes searching.

And again! This time the bright red glint flashed somewhere under the forest bracken over to my left. I slowly pivoted my body, and cautiously began to inch my way over towards the spot; you never knew if a wild creature was out there ready to jump you. I slowly reached the spot where I had seen the red flash, and quickly dropped to my hands and knees. The forest floor was muddy and wet, quickly soaking through my rugged and torn jeans to dampen my half frozen knees. I dug my hands deep into the cold, muddy mess of rotting leaves, soil and who knows what else (probably some creatures dung, with my luck), cursing and shivering in distaste as my fingers immediately went numb from the sudden shock of the cold surrounding them.

I began clearing the rotting muck away from the spot I had seen the flash of red, hoping to once again catch a glimpse of it. To my relief it appeared again only a little off to my left. I immediately was off after it, quickly clearing away what I could of the forest debris. I very soon encountered the object of my pains as my groping hand came into contact with something hard. Closing my hand slowly around it, I noted its round, smooth texture, and almost dropped it again as a strange, buzzing warmth filled me, beginning at the hand that held the small object, definitely a stone, and spreading onwards, through my body, sending feeling back into my fingers, arms and legs.

I yanked the stone up close to my face so I could examine it better in the darkness. It was a small, smooth stone that pulsed slightly with a strange rhythm as I held it, synchronizing with the beating of my heart. It was brilliant fire red in color, and had a glassily smooth texture as if it had been in water for a very long time. As I stared at the stone it filled me with a strange sense of power, like nothing I had ever felt before. I stared at it a second or two longer before slipping it into my left pocket for safekeeping. This was a special stone; that I knew. I was definitely keeping it.

Wearily, I trudged on through the forest for the next hour or so, never stopping to rest my forever aching bones or my eyes whose lids began to droop every couple of minutes, because I knew that if I did I would fall asleep and wouldn't have the strength to go on. I tried to ignore the constant gnawing of hunger pains in the pit of my stomach; I just had to keep moving. I knew I couldn't eat just any fruit that showed itself to me, it had a possibility of being poisonous, same with roots. I kept moving.

Some hours before dawn my exhausted body stumbled wearily into a small, overgrown clearing only a few yards across. There I collapsed into a heap on the ground, too exhausted to go on. I didn't even notice a branch poking me uncomfortably in the side; I was too tired. My eyelids began to droop and finally to shut as I was thrown deep into the dark, soothing pit of sleep.

A noise startled me into wakefulness. I jerked roughly up into a sitting position, wincing as the branch that had been poking into my side the whole time I lay asleep, yanked free. I kicked the branch out of my way, and surveyed the area. It was still dark, perhaps only an hour or so had passed since I'd fallen asleep. The wind was rustling softly through the leaves of the trees surrounding the clearing, sending cold shivers through my weary body as I stared out into the pitch darkness. The night was a clear one, millions of stars softly dotting the dark sky, and the waxing sliver of a moon casting barely enough light for me to see my hand if I stuck it in front of my face. The wind wasn't the sound I'd heard though. I glanced quickly around me, my blue eyes searching, attempting to penetrate the almost pitch-blackness, and failing miserably.

Wait, what was that? My eyes had detected a small movement that wasn't just the natural swaying of trees in the wind, somewhere over to my right. I turned my head slowly in the direction I'd seen the movement coming from, and squinted, my eyes barely penetrating the darkness.

Then I saw it. I was a small Po… creature… very teddy bear like with a faintly glowing outline of a crescent moon on its forehead. It appeared to be eating something…happily. I felt the rage I had built up earlier in the night begin to surface, filling my once calm mind with murderous and irrational thoughts and suggestions about what I could do. I could not let this _thing _be happy and _eat _while I was wallowing in despair and _staving_!

I jumped to my feet, tottering momentarily as my over used leg muscles protested, but soon regained my balance. I glared daggers into the small thing'sback, thrusting my hand into my left pocket, feeling around for the stone I had picked up earlier in the night. I didn't care if the stone was somehow 'special'; all that mattered was hurting the creature just as badly as it had hurt me! I yelped in pain as my hand came into contact with the red stone, jarring my concentration on my rage momentarily. I yanked my hand from my pocket and quickly thrust my burned fingers into my mouth. The stone had been burning hot, just like my anger was. What had caused the stone to turn so warm? Surely not the heat from my body! I wasn't that warm!

Attempting to curse around my hand, I stooped down and grabbed the first thing that met my groping fingers: a stone. The stone was lumpy, rough and disfigured, perfect for my aims. Using my right arm I launched the lump of rock at the creature, hoping desperately that it wouldn't miss. Deri always said I had a killer arm, which probably came from pitching for my softball team six years in a row. My stone struck its mark, point blank, right on the thing's chubby shoulder. The creature just sat there and blinked at me, looking thoroughly stunned, an apple halfway to its small pink mouth. Then it began to wail, shattering the peaceful night silence like a gunshot. "Tedi! Tediursa! Tedi!" It shrieked in a high squeaky voice, tears beginning to form in its small black orbs.

I smirked and sauntered slowly over to it, holding myself high, and neatly plucked the green apple from its tiny paw. I winced as I bit into the apple; the baby creature's wails were growing to a deafening crescendo.

"Shut up," I said off handedly to it as I began to walk away, quite happy with the damage I'd done.

"Tediursa! Ursa! Tediursa!"

"What a baby," I smirked as I chewed my latest bite of apple, my mouth and stomach enthusiastically welcoming the crunchy deliciousness. "Can't even take getting tapped with a stone with out crying." I turned away from it; a goofy smirk glued to my face, and began to saunter in the direction of the forest, enjoying myself for the first time in what seemed like months.

I froze. Something was wrong. The Tediursa's cries had suddenly ceased. Oh no, I told myself, don't tell me... A terrible guttural growling could be heard not far behind my still form. Whatever it was it didn't sound friendly. I jerked myself quickly around hoping to catch a glimpse of the creature making that unearthly sound.

My eyes popped wide open, and the half eaten apple dropped from my now badly trembling hand as my eyes came to rest on the creature standing behind me. Terror took complete hold of my body, all the saliva in my mouth drying in an instant, for behind me stood a large, hulking monster no less than eight feet in height. I, at 5'3, only reached the top of the yellow ring that tattooed its large hairy chest and belly. It was glaring and growling at me, barring its sharp white teeth in a way I did not interpret as friendly. Behind this large bear stood the small Tediursa I had struck with the stone, a large swelling protruding from its small skull, grinning at me in triumph. I glanced back up at the bear. This had to be the Tediursa's parent, a fully-grown Ursaring, and from the way it was looking at me I knew it wasn't here for a polite conversation.

Terror had totally overtaken my body. I was defenseless. My left hand strayed into my pocket to touch the Fire Red stone, as I had now dubbed it, as if a reflex. It was a biting cold, so freezing that it numbed my fingers instantly at the touch.

I starred up at the angry bear, my eyes filled with fear. I could feel myself trembling, shaking uncontrollably at what faced me. I tried to will my legs to move, but my body would not obey. My eyes locked with the Ursaring's dark black ones, burning with an immense fire of rage. I searched my mind desperately for anything I knew about Ursaring and their habits. They were very protective of their young, and if I wasn't confusing my Ursaring information with my Illumise information like I usually did (don't ask) I was pretty sure that if anything hurt their young they would stop at nothing to get revenge. This was not good for me, not at all.

Then it hit me. An idea not the bear! The Ursaring, as much as I disliked it, was like me. I was out for revenge on Pokemon for the death of my mother; the bear wanted revenge on me for hurting its child. There was still no way I could console this angry parent from attacking.

I felt a flare of mind numbing pain jump from the pocket that held the Fire Red stone, freezing my thigh instantly. I stared down at my pocket to find it encrusted in small ruby red ice crystals. Still wandering at the strange red stone I reached out a trembling finger to brush the ice. I yelped. The ice was burning cold, so cold that it felt hot. It didn't melt at my touch either, like normal ice would. That shock was enough to get me, and the bear, moving. I turned and fled, running blindly away from the clearing into the dark of night. I heard a loud, angry roar shatter the silence behind me, and the heavy pounding of large, padded paws on the soft earth. The bear was pursuing me. I was going to die.

I ran, sprinting past low hanging vines of all variations, thick, thin, green, brown; past fallen trees and branches bursting with fungus and small life. I ran past trees, large ancient oaks to young, healthy cedars. I ran past shrubs and bushes, large and small. I flung myself wildly into to the night, flying over ruts and dips in the land, over logs and bushes, anything that lay in my path. Still the bear pursued me, screaming its rage in long, low, terrifying growls and roars, a constant reminder of why I was running in the first place.

A few minutes passed in what seemed like hours to my terrorized mind. My breath began to come in short, ragged gasps, my head began to swim in dizziness with the lack of air. Still the bear was coming, roaring crazily in pursuit. The Fire Red stone in my pocket sent me constant flares of freezing cold pain, urging my already exhausted leg muscles into motion, forbidding them to stop. The only thing that gave me the strength to move at all was the pure cold terror that reigned in my mind. If the Ursaring caught up to me I would be…no! I didn't want to think about it! I pushed on.

My hurt leg, which had been savagely cut from my fall off my bike, was throbbing painfully, begging me to stop putting it through this dreadful agony. I winced and placed the pain at the back of my mind. If I concentrated on anything other than escaping I would surely be caught and… I was not going to allow myself to think about that!

A rowan tree threw itself in front of my tearing path. I threw myself quickly to the side and dodged around it, almost tripping on the log sprawled right next to it. To trip would have been the end. I could hear the Ursaring behind me, charging steadily, its heavy clawed feet pounding loudly on the soft forest floor, crushing dead leaves and bark as it ran. I dared not look back. If I did I would probably trip and then it would be all over; Talia O'Connel would be no more. Who cared one tiny bit about Talia O'Connel anyway?

My heart was hammering madly in my chest, and my lungs gasped desperately for air. Lactic acid was building up in my legs and arms, turning every little movement into a complete agony. Even if I had been on the track team at school I had never been forced to run like this.

Swiftly, I ducked a low, thick branch that appeared right at eye level, and then agilely leaped down a short half foot drop, and continued on, mind racing horribly in fear. I heard a loud _thwack_! and then an angry growl from the bear followed by a sharp _crack_! of breaking wood. The Ursaring had run into the low branch I'd ducked, snapping it clean off. It would have struck me as funny had I been under normal circumstances, but now I just thanked my lucky stars that I'd been given a chance to live.

I risked a glance behind me. Just as I thought the bear had struck the branch. It now stood, only a mere five yards behind me, tearing the branch to pieces, allowing me to put a much needed distance between us. All of a sudden I felt my left foot catch in something, and then my both my feet were ripped out from under me. I felt myself fly forward, and then pain. It exploded in my head like a firecracker. My vision was blurred as yellow and white lights flashed before my unseeing eyes. My head had struck a tree opening a gash in my forehead. Then the headache hit. It came as a roaring, agonizing pain that flooded my mind, knocking out all sense of time and space, sending me reeling into almost total blackness. Even through the pain I remembered why I was running, and jerked my head around, wincing at the sudden movement, to stare in the direction the bear had been chasing me from.

Pure cold terror filled my mind, swamping even the pain of my run in with the tree trunk. The Ursaring was still coming, a new light of triumph sparking in the depths of its fiery rage filled eyes. It knew I was down and wasn't getting up. Now it was only five yards from me, so close that I could smell its awful scent, so close that I could see its unbearably sharp white teeth glinting in the scant moonlight. When the bear got through with me I would be nothing more than a corpse, barely recognizable from my goring. Not a pretty picture.

I tried, in one last desperate attempt to stand up, but then realized that my foot was hopelessly caught in a tangle of roots at the base of the old oak I had smashed against. All hope was lost. I glanced up at the bear. It was only a mere six yards away and rapidly closing in.

Five yards...

Three yards...

Two yards…

One yard. I closed my eyes tightly, hoping that it would kill me quickly, and that it wouldn't be too painful. All of a sudden I felt an intense heat begin to grow in my pocket, and flare into a burning inferno, a vast change from the freezing temperature it had held all through out the chase. I barely noticed it as I steeled myself for the pain that was going to come. I waited one second, then two. When nothing happened I peeked, confused, from one eye.

What I saw caused my eyes to fly open in amazement. A fiery red barrier of light surrounded me, warming my chilled bones. On the outside of the barrier stood the Ursaring, snarling in fury as it threw itself again and again at the red light, which appeared to be… solid?

I glanced down at my pocket to find that it was glowing bright red, so bright that it left spots before my eyes when I looked away. Somehow the Fire Red stone had made this protective barrier, shielding me from what was almost certain death.

The Ursaring threw itself at the barrier for another full minute before growling one last time in rage and defeat, and turning off to disappear into the forest. I just sat and stared, shaking violently from fear and exhaustion, watching the red light slowly fade away, soon exposing me to the outside world.

Finally the night began to catch up on me. I hadn't slept in what seemed like days, and with all the running I'd done it was a wonder I had been able to stay awake this long. I tugged at my foot for a few minutes, attempting to get it unstuck and failing miserably. Too exhausted to go on I shifted my position a few times, trying to arrange myself comfortably. Finally, choosing a position I liked, my eyelids began to droop lower and lower, and finally closed all the way. I was immediately plunged into the comforting darkness of sleep.  
----------  
_It was burning hot. My skin felt like it was on fire. Steam was rising around me in wisps, like smoke, and I could see that I was on a small ledge sticking far out over a vast deep pit. Searing heat was radiating from it, and a bright red glow was cast from far, far below. _

I started creeping carefully towards the pit, attempting to see what was making that horrible red glow. I reached the edge of the ledge, and peered cautiously over. Horrified, I stared incredulously at what I was seeing. The pit was full of red-hot lava. I backed quickly away from the edge until my back bumped against the steep rock cliff behind me. I looked up the large cliff; it was tall and sheer, no way that I could climb up it. I was trapped. I glanced frantically around me for a way out, but there was none that I could see.

All of a sudden the ground beneath my feet started shaking: an earthquake! The end of the ledge began dropping away making the small space I had even smaller. My mind was reeling with terror. It was then that I saw it.

It came out of the fire like an underwater mountain coming out of the sea. Hot lava was pouring off its back, and it towered ten times my height. It was red, the same color as the stone I now carried in my pocket, and it appeared to be like a mythical Pokemon that had jumped out of the pages of one of my old storybooks. A dangerous glint was in its golden eye.

I stared at the great creature hoping it wouldn't see me. Somewhere I had seen this mythical beast before, somewhere that I couldn't recall. It turned its dangerous eye towards me, and I knew with terrible clarity that I had been spotted. It started making a long slow move toward me, its large arms clawing. I squeaked and began backing up frantically toward the wall behind me, hoping to somehow avoid it's clawing grasp. It hit my ledge, crumbling it into nothing.

I fell, fell towards the lava. I could feel its intense heat hitting my sweating body. My head was reeling: I was going to die! As I fell one last word flashed through my terrified mind: Groudon.


	4. Chapter 3: Of Sticks Stories and Healin

**Learning to Heal the Hurt – Book I: Fire Red**  
Chapter 3: Of Sticks, Stories and Healing

I jerked bolt upright, my clear blue eyes flying wide open. I was cold, my body and clothes soaked with sweat. The blankets that covered me were wet too. That dream! It was terrifying yet I had this feeling that it was somehow important. It was trying to tell me something, I was sure of it, but what? I had never had a dream, a nightmare really, that seemed so vivid; so real. All my dreams were a series of pointless events that shifted and merged into each other throughout the night. They never made sense like that, never. What did it all mean? And why the heck did I have blankets? The last thing I remembered was collapsing, with my foot caught in roots, into a deep sleep after escaping the angry parent Ursaring's wrath. Unless I had missed something here I was pretty sure I hadn't moved at all, but I had.

I glanced wearily around me, groaning as my sore muscles and bones protested. I was in the center a large clearing surrounded by the forest I had recently been traveling through. The clearing was filled with long wild grasses that swayed slowly in the soft, comfortable breeze, with artfully colored wild flowers dotting the landscape. Around these flowers many bug Pokemon, such as Yanma, Beautifly, and Butterfry flitted joyously, showing off their beautiful colors, vainly, to the world. Rattata, Zigzagoon and Wurmple ran through the tall grasses, darting wildly to and fro. Various bird Pokemon such as Pidgey, Spearow, Taillow and occasionally their evolved forms called loudly to each other across the great expanse of field. The sky was a shining sapphire blue, and it appeared to be early morning by the position of the sun shining brightly in the sky. It was all very beautiful; except for the Pokemon of course. I glanced down. I was rapped in twisted, sweat soaked sheets, lying on the ground under a tree that I was pretty sure I had never seen before.

"Hey! The One-Who-Sleeps-For-Two-Days-and-Nights had _finally_ awoken!" A cheerful female voice greeted my ears. I knew that voice very well, and its presence surprised me.

"Reenie?" I asked in surprise as I jerked my head around to stare at my best friend. Reenie's sparkling green eyes met mine as I looked at her, the glint of mischief that was always there as bright as ever. Her mouse brown hair was pulled back in a quick ponytail and fastened with a hair tie at the nape of her neck. Her dark green T-shirt and jean shorts rippled softly in the breeze.

"The one and only!" The 13-year old answered approaching me with a ready smile. Reenie always smiled.

"I'm here too!" Another voice piped up as the owner came to stand beside Reenie.

"Deri!" I exclaimed, even more surprised to see my shy, quiet other best friend than I was to see the out going Reenie. Deri smiled and shrugged. Deri was definitely the brains of our trio, always able to figure things out that Reenie and I, with our more limited knowledge, couldn't.

"Why are you guys here?" I asked incredulously. "The last I heard you were traipsing around the country side, heading for Rustboro."

"What happened to _you_?" Reenie returned, grinning.

I sighed. "It's kind of a long story," I replied doubtfully, not exactly thrilled at the prospect of having to relate my whole tale to them, and relive the pain I had felt.

"S'all right," Deri intervened. "We were just about to have breakfast anyway. You can tell us then."

"Oh, and don't go back to sleep," Reenie warned.

"Why?" I asked, confused. Reenie was the kind of person who had the strangest ideas that just about nobody would think of.

"You've had too much of it." She grinned, a mischievous glint flooding her eyes.

"Too much of it…?" I mumbled, my half asleep mind stumbling to think. "Wait! How long was I asleep anyway?"

Reenie's grin spread. "You are Rip Van Winkle. You slept for twenty years."

"Twenty ye… Reenie!" I cried, eyes blazing. "You're teasing me!" I accused.

"Just ignore her," Deri put in, a smile tugging at the corner of his lips, "You slept for two days but even that is a lot."

"Two days!" I cried, my eyes flying wide open. "When did you guys find me anyway?" If my calculations were correct I might have slept for more than two days.

"Um, two days ago," Deri answered as Reenie burst forth in a fit of crazy giggles.

I sighed, and shook my head. Of course they wouldn't know what day I had left, or what day the Ursaring had chased me. So, maybe it was only three days since I'd left Sandar in a hurry. Two days. That was a long time to sleep. I hadn't even known I could sleep for that long! "I'll get up." I said, directing my statement at Deri as Reenie was still giggling madly.

"I'll get you some breakfast too and…um." He shot a glance at the hysterical Reenie.

"Just try to get that giggling moron calmed down," I said, a small smile escaping my lips.

Deri nodded, and quickly turned to grab Reenie on the arm. He hauled the giggling girl up, and began to retreat back to the campfire, lecturing my friend as he went.

I groaned and rubbed my aching head, wincing as my hand came into contact with an open gash on my forehead; dried blood flaked off at my touch. It was the out come of my run in with oak tree from…two, maybe three, days ago. My head hurt, and it felt like a thousand drums were pounding unyieldingly in my brain. I threw off the wet, freezing sheets and staggered to my feet, only to collapse again as my weight fell on my left leg. It buckled instantly, searing pain shooting through it, as I fell hard on my rump. I yelped and glared down at my leg. My left ankle had swollen to almost double its size, and my knee was caked in dry blood. I grimaced. Man was it ugly, and gosh it hurt like hell!

I glanced around me for a stick or something to lean on, in hopes that I wouldn't have to crawl over to Reenie and Deri looking like a helpless, sick dog! Lucky for me there was a long, pole like stick off to my left. It looked to be about five feet in height, and strong enough to support my weight. I leaned forward, and reached out a hand to grab it, wincing yet again as some of my weight fell on my left leg. My fingers were just short of my prize.

All of a sudden I felt tingling warmth, beginning at my pocket, and spreading up to meet my hand. As soon as the warmth reached my fingers it began to glow in a bright fire red light. The branch that my outstretched hand was almost touching began to twitch and jerk. I stared in a shock and wonder as right before my eyes the branch flew up off the ground, and straight into my outstretched palm. As soon as my fingers closed around the branch securely the red light engulfed the stick totally, almost blinding me with pure red brilliance. I blinked and looked away; the light was too bright to look at. As soon as I felt the warmth begin to die in my hand I cracked open my eyes, and turned my face back to stare at the smooth wooden pole that I now held in my trembling hand.

The branch bore little to no resemblance to what it had once been. It was now a tall, smooth pole of white, bark-stripped wood; smooth, with no knot holes or cracks running along its surface. It was capped with a large piece of white wood, about as large around as my fist. I stared at it, trembling slightly. What was going on here? Things had just gotten weirder and weirder since I had found the Fire Red stone only a few days ago. I shook my head, wet my parched lips with my even dryer tongue and stood up, leaning most of my weight on the stick. Lucky for me it didn't give way beneath my weight.

I nearly dropped it again in shock. Things were just too weird. The stick was humming with power; flashes of red lightning danced across its surface every couple of seconds. I just stared at it, wide eyed.

"You coming or not, Talia?" Reenie called from over at the campfire, jerking me out of my gaping stare.

"I'm coming." I called back shakily, keeping a wary eye on the stick. I hobbled over to the fire, and sat myself down, wincing slightly as I did so, brooding over the strange sight I had just witnessed. Things were way, way too weird.

A sharp bark interrupted my reverie. I froze, and slowly raised my gaze from where I was staring at the ground. I could have sworn I had heard the bark of a Pokemon. My eyes did a quick sweep of the area, and, sure enough, my eyes came to rest on a small, gray dog-like creature. It stood about half a meter off the ground at the tips of its ears, and it sported sharp fangs in its small, pink mouth. Even with those killers, it was still a baby, and couldn't hurt me. I felt the rage begin to boil up with inside me, as I glared at the tiny thing. It had been smiling at me before, but, seeing my gaze, it began to whimper and cower toward Deri. That's when it hit me. Deri was a Pokemon trainer now. He trained those murderous creatures that killed my mother. This Pokemon was his.

A sudden flash of bright, white light snapped me out of my glare. The Poochyena was quickly engulfed in the flash, and disappeared in the next instant. I glanced up sharply at Deri. He was staring at me, a scared expression on his face. He was gripping the Pokeball close to his chest, protectively. Our eyes locked, and for a minute it was a battle of wills, me versus Deri. Finally, unable to stand it, I looked away, and fell silent once more.

"Nice stick." Deri commented sometime later, apparently over his initial scare. He was stirring something, stew I think, that hung in a pot over the fire, with a plastic ladle. The aroma wafting from it was blessed. "Where'd you get it? It wasn't with you when we brought you here. It looks hand crafted."

I sighed and glared crossly at the staff as it rested lightly at my side. "I found it over by the tree I slept under." I said truthfully. "I, uh…"

"Tal!" Deri cried, cutting me off in mid sentence. His worried gaze rested on my left leg. "You absolutely cannot be running around on _that_!" Just like Deri; always the doctor. I suppose it came from being a doctor's son.

"Well it kind of hurts," I admitted, rubbing my leg, and wincing as a sharp pain shot through it.

Deri sighed, "Reenie!"

"Yah?" The girl answered, her eyes still riveted on my hurt leg, wide with shock and pity.

"Get a bucket of water and boil it!" Deri ordered, reminding me of how thirsty I was which led me to thinking about how hungry I was, which led me to thinking about how tired I was: two days of sleep left me exhausted.

"While you're at it, get me something to drink!" I called after Reenie. Just as I was about to order Deri to get me some food he cut me off.

"You; Stay put. No walking on that leg you understand?" His tone was menacing as he pointed at me. When Deri spoke like that there was no crossing him.

"But…" I complained, straightening abruptly.

"No buts. We are going to fix that leg whether you like it or not." Deri had a look of determination on his face. When Deri was determined to do something, he did it. Nothing could stand in his path.

I had a vague memory of a cup of fresh water being lifted to me dry and parched lips, and a cool, refreshing liquid running down my throat some time later. But I, even having just awoken from a two day sleep was tired, so tired it surprised me. Only a few moments after the cup was taken from my lips I collapsed into a heap, asleep before my head hit the ground.

----------

For the next three days our lives followed the same monotonous schedule, day in and day out. I would sometimes stay awake the whole day, staring off into space, thinking, always thinking, about how I had become stuck here in this place, my leg too battered for me to walk; all because of Pokemon and their stupid, idiotic ways. Sometimes I'd keep jumping in and out of sleep for a whole day and night. Sometimes Reenie, Deri and I would talk for hours upon hours upon various subjects; but then sometimes we would just sit in silence for hours too. Somehow I always managed to skirt around my friends' questions about what had happened to me between the times they'd left me till now. I didn't ask them how they came to be here either for I was sure that that would eventually lead them to asking about my story which I wasn't quite ready to tell. Deri never let his Poochyena out in my sight again. I could tell I'd scared him the first day I'd woken up. I think they must have somehow gotten word from Mrs. Kemp, too, about my mother's death. At least they had the decency to not ask about it. If they did I would definitely go off into another rage.

All the while my leg continued to heal under Deri's attentive care. Deri said I'd always have a scar on my knee from where I'd struck the rock. My head wound was healing too, leaving tender, pink scar tissue where the once open wound had been. It had given me fierce headaches for the first day or so though.

For some strange reason the stick that had been created by something I totally didn't understand, had been at my side day and night. I had become strangely attached to it, and the Fire Red stone, gripping it frequently to feel the soothing buzz of power fizz through my body. The Fire Red stone was useful to me too because whenever I was cold all I had to do was touch it, and it would instantly send comforting waves of warmth through my body. What could I say to that? I really liked it!

Sometimes Reenie and Deri would retreat across the camp and sit, talking animatedly in harsh whispers glancing over at me frequently. I think they thought I didn't see them, but I did. Our lives went on like this for three days; eat, talk, sleep; eat, talk, sleep; eat, talk sleep… By the fourth day my leg was almost fully healed. I would be able to travel again, and continue my long journey for revenge.

----------

I awoke, sometime early on the fourth day, to the soft pattering of a quiet rain splashing my face. The droplets of water rocketed down from the sky to strike my skin and break, trailing down my dirty flesh to leave wet trickles in their wake. I sat slowly up, shivering from the cold as a wave of freezing air washed over my very drenched self, and gazed sullenly around. It was still daytime, judging from the amount of light in the air, but a thick, gray layer of clouds covered the once clear blue sky. The field that had once been so full of life before was almost completely empty with only the wildflowers daring to show their faces and enthusiastically greet the rain.

Everything else was gone from the field, turned a dull gray with the absence of light. I was soaking wet, my dark hair turned almost black by the rain. My clothes were full and unbearably heavy with the wet liquid of which I almost never wanted to see again. It was the same liquid I had so desperately craved for only a few days previous.

The white bandage on my leg, Reenie and Deri had changed it daily to care for my knee and ankle, was full and turned a slight yellowish color from the water and dirt soaked into it. My leg did feel extremely improved from the last time I'd seen it though.

I was still seated by the campfire, or what had once been the campfire; the rain had totally doused it. My left hand automatically groped down to my side. I was rewarded when my hand struck wood and a faint thrum of power buzzed through my head. I had my stick. That was a good thing. I could also feel the familiar weight of the Fire Red stone resting securely in my pocket. I hadn't taken it out since I'd found it, evading the questions my friends would ask of it. I had my stick and my stone but where were my friends?

I glanced quickly around. Reenie and Deri usually stayed near me, situating their living quarters around the campfire. I figured that since it was raining they had retreated to the safe, dry area beneath the large oak tree I had first woken under, inconsiderately leaving me out in the damp and cold. My hunch proved true as my searching eyes came to rest on the two figures huddled under the nearby tree.

I sighed, untangling my legs from the wet, heavy blankets I'd been wrapped in and stood up, reaching back down to pull my stick up after me. Expecting to feel the slick, wet surface of damp wood, I turned to stare sharply at the stick when I didn't. The wood was dry, as dry as it always had been, the small droplets of water seeming to slide right off, as if it had a waxen surface, leaving no mark behind them. This stick never ceased to amaze me.

Leaning heavily on my sick I turned towards the dry area under the tree where my friends stood waiting. The dry earth seemed very inviting to my very much water logged self.

"Oh, hey Tal; you're up," Reenie commented as I dragged my very wet body over to and under the canopy of the large oak tree, sheltering me from the pouring rain steadily pattering down into the dry earth now turned into thick, dark mud.

"So considerate of you to leave me out in the rain," I remarked sarcastically, sighing as I slid down so I was seated firmly next to Reenie at the base of the oak.

"Sorry," Deri shrugged, "We couldn't move you, and especially not with your leg in the condition it was."

"Some friends you are," I muttered darkly under my breath, glaring out into the rain. My hair hung heavily, framing my face and clinging to my damp skin. It was very

uncomfortable. The three of us sat in an almost comfortable silence.

"What happened that brought you all the way out here Tal?" Reenie's soft question broke the silence that had been stretching on and on.

A little suspicious, I glanced sharply over at her. I was suspicious of my own friends. I just couldn't trust anybody anymore. Reenie sat beside me; hands limp at her sides, green eyes intent on the wet world outside. She looked innocent enough.

I don't know what came over me then but in one urgent moment I began to tell them everything, from my mother's death to now, as we were sitting under the canopy of the large oak tree. I told them of my rage towards Pokemon that had originated on the day exactly a week after my mother's death, of the Ursaring escapade, everything, only omitting the part about the Fire Red stone and my staff. I wasn't quite sure why, but I had this feeling that if anyone found out about these things I was doomed. It might have been the rain that made me talk, or the constant longing for sympathy that had been hidden deep inside me, only surfacing now, or maybe it was the anger and the hurt that had been bottled up inside me for days, I'll never know. And, well, it kind of felt good to talk, letting all my feelings of anger, grief, hurt and fear flow out with every word I speak. My friends listened intently the whole time, never interrupting me to ask questions. They knew just as well as I did that if I was interrupted I wouldn't have the courage to go on.

When my tale was done silence reigned over my friends. I stared numbly down as my hands, not daring to look up so see my friends' reactions.

"I didn't know…" Reenie's soft voice broke the silence, "I'm sorry Talia. I should have been there for you."

I glanced up at her words, my own blue eyes meeting her light green ones for an instant, so full of sadness at that moment, devoid of the usual spark of mischief that was usually there. She would have been there for me? If she had tried I would have pushed her away.

The silence stretched on for a long time. Every tiny sound made in the forest I became acutely aware of. The hundreds of bird Pokemon chirping, the wind rustling the trees, the rain pattering into the wet earth, my friend's breathing, my heart beating! It was so hard to keep myself sitting there. I wanted to move; I wanted to get out of here! I didn't think Reenie and Deri were ready to leave yet, but I certainly was! They wouldn't let me do anything, my friends. They wouldn't let me walk when I wanted to. I couldn't eat when I wanted to because they had to 'ration' the food out. I wanted to go, and continue my journey, not sit and waste away here, barely ten miles from home!

"I can't stay here anymore," I said tensely, standing up quickly with the help of my stick.

"What?" Reenie started, and stared up at me in confusion.

"I meant exactly what I said," I replied, "I just can't stay here anymore. I'm grateful to you guys for helping me and all, but I really need to move on and get out of this place before it drives me crazy!"

"But…Talia," Reenie was stuttering.

"Talia, have you realized how stupid this quest of yours is?" Deri broke in, standing up to face me. I felt my anger beginning to flare, "Do you even know where you are going?"

I stared at him, feeling betrayed. I couldn't believe this; even my own friends didn't believe in me. They didn't believe in my quest. Of course they wouldn't, I told myself bitterly, they sympathized with those murderous creatures more than they did with me.

"What does it matter to you?" I hissed back at him, "This isn't your quest, it's mine. You are only tagging along on this for who knows what reason!"

"Talia," Deri's anger was ignited. I think I'd first stirred it up when I'd almost gone berserk on his Pokemon the other day, "You are the most self-centered person I know."

I glared at him, "I don't care if I'm selfish. You're just a Pokemon Trainer wannabe! Do you really think that wimp of a Poochyena you own could really help you become a Pokemon master?"

Now I had really made him mad, "You may insult me as much as you like, Talia O'Connel!" He raged, "But never, ever, insult my Pokemon!"

"You know," I spat into his face, "Just forget this. I'm leaving! What do I care about you guys anyway? All you'll do is slow me down, and hinder me. I will not have it! Just keep you big mouths shut, because I'm leaving!" With that, I picked up my stick, turned, and fled into the forest. To hell with my friends! To hell with everything! To hell with Pokemon! I could get revenge by myself. I did not need them.


	5. Chapter 4: Caught!

Learning to Heal the Hurt - Book I: Fire Red  
Chapter 4: Caught!

I ran, fleeing through the forest as fast as my bound leg would permit, never once halting to check my direction. I didn't care where I went, just as long as I got somewhere, away from here. I gripped my dry stick in my freezing hands and clutched it to my chest, hoping it would take the worst of the blows from the low hanging branches. The rain was coming down harder now, in sheets, transforming the once dry earth at my feet into slick oozing mud. I slipped and slid my way across the forest, legs scraping across brambles and razor sharp grasses, cutting my flesh in a dozen places.

I catapulted past a bush of low shrubbery, then over a rut in the muddy earth. My damp clothes clung uncomfortably to my even damper skin like Velcro. My soaking shoes made a horrible squish squelching sound every time I placed them on the slick wet earth. My dark hair, which had lost its single hair tie eons ago, had not been combed in days, causing it to stick out crazily in all directions.

I ran on, the only thing I could think about was how those filthy _things_ could have killed my mother. The fight I'd just had with Deri had totally escaped my mind. That was how one-tracked my mind was at that point in time.

I ran and ran and ran and ran, until I could run no more. Then, with burning lungs pleading desperately for oxygen, a horribly aching leg, and no will to continue on, I collapsed onto the soft wet earth, barely able to lay my whirling head down before the darkness claimed me.

----------

I was a wreck; a total and complete wreck. My dark hair was filled with dirt, burs and who knows what else! It stuck out in every direction too, giving me a savage appearance. My navy shirt and jeans were covered in a thick layer of slime and half frozen mud; a horrible reeking stink emanated from my dirt and blood encrusted body. Torn in several different places from where they had caught on stray twigs during my wild fleeing, my clothing probably looked only half as bad as I did. My exposed arms and legs ached terribly from the numerous cuts and scrapes also obtained during my enraged runs; many of them oozed blood onto my dirty flesh, staining it a dark, sickly red. Mud was encrusted over some of my cuts, adding more pain to my already aching skin.

It had only been a day since I had fled from Reenie and Deri and collapsed out in the woods; my rage had boiled down somewhat to the point that I could control it. I pushed the anger and pain away, deep inside me, to let it grow for when I really needed it. After I had come around I realized that I was cold, wet, hungry, tired, and, above all, thoroughly miserable. It had ceased raining some hours before, but even that wasn't enough to lift my steadily dropping spirits. My stick, which had proved to be more of a hindrance than a help so far, was still as dry as it had ever been, always staying in my sight and my filthy, freezing hands. I, personally, envied it; it did not have feelings. It couldn't feel rage, hurt, pain, sadness or any of those things that weighed down on me now. And it was always dry, warm, and comfortable. That was something I wanted. It was kind of stupid to envy a stick.

I still had the Fire Red stone too, I just never bothered to take it out of my pocket and examine it. I did now though, transferring the amazingly light object of my envy to my right hand, and plunging my left deep into my soaking wet pocket. When my hand met cool stone I yelped. The buzz of power that had run through my whole body, pulsing from the stone, was much more intense than the power the stick emanated. I gained control of myself, and once more thrust my hand into the pocket. This time I was prepared (or as prepared as you can get from the shock of pure power coursing through your veins) for the wave of power when it came. I drew the stone out of my pocket, clenching my fingers firmly around the orb. Comforting waves of great warmth ran through my body as the thrum of the stone synchronized with the pulsing rhythm of my heart, sending feeling back into my numbed limbs and warming me up completely. It felt good to be warm again.

I opened my hand to reveal the stone, and positioned my head at a slight tilt to peer down at it. It was the same stunning fire red in color, still appearing to burn with an inner flame, one that never went out. It made my head spin to stare at it. I smiled and glanced away. It was the first time I had smiled in days and it kind of felt weird on my face, using muscles that had lain still for quite a while.

Turning, I pocketed the stone, full of a new hope and ambition to continue on. Using my stick as a walking staff I began to trek on through the forest with no idea where I was going. All I knew was that I was traveling for revenge. I traveled for another two hours or so, ignoring the continual protests of my aching legs, my soiled clothing quickly drying in the rapidly heating day. The days had been unusually cool for early June but this day seemed to turn the tables. I estimated that it was about 85 degrees Fahrenheit out, quite a nice day. The sky was clear and blue, as it usually was during a Hoennian summer, and the sun shone brilliantly on everything from high overhead. The forest was full of bright blues, browns, greens, purples, yellows, oranges and just about every other color you could imagine. A slight cooling breeze was whispering softly through the trees, ruffling my disheveled hair and clothing.

In the instant that I stood, staring at all this beauty, I had the most peculiar yet surprisingly joyful feeling that I was the only person on earth, and all my troubles, pains, everything, were being whisked away by the passing breeze. Plus, I was happy, so happy that a joyful peal of laughter erupted from my long dormant lips.

A Pidgey chirped.

My tranquil moment was broken and I began to remember as I felt a spark of anger begin to ignite the flames that I had pushed so carefully away. I ignored the stirring anger within me and sighed regretfully. For one moment I had felt like I had only a few weeks before, so joyful and carefree. The mere reminder of those happy days that seemed so long ago, and almost lost to me forever, made me feel as if I carried the weight of the world on my shoulders. I sighed again, and shook my head. I continued glumly on.

The only thing that was actually marring the perfect beauty of the day was Pokemon. The bloody devils called out from the trees, the fields, the bushes, the forest floor, all around me, almost seeming to deafen my senses as I tuned my ears in to their horrid cries. They even dared go as far as to show their faces in my presence, but quickly hid them again as they found a large stone fly dangerously close by their heads. Various bird Pokemon screeched far above me from the cover of the trees. Other land Pokemon snarled and yowled from around and below me. It was all too much, just too much.

I dropped my stick abruptly, clapped my hands over my greatly abused ears, and screamed. I screamed long and loud, as loud as I could, my voice erupting into the racket created by the beasts. I screamed for what seemed like ages to my reeling mind. Closing my mouth, the harsh and sudden sound abruptly cut off. I slowly pried my hands from my ears, and was greeted by total and almost complete silence, save for the slight breeze that rustled the trees.

It was then that I heard it; a faint roaring sound, alien to my ears so used to the natural sounds of the wild. What was it?

Standing stock-still, just listening, I heard very faintly through the silence the strange rushing roar, until it was once again drowned out by the ugly sounds of Pokemon, who had apparently gotten over their initial shock of my scream. Just as the sound faded away completely to my untrained ears, I realized what it was. It was a sound I hadn't heard in days. It was the sound of cars, rushing along a paved road. A road meant cars, and cars meant people, and people meant cities, and cities meant civilization! It would be good to reach civilization, where I would be able to take a much-needed hot, soothing shower, and fill my stomach and mouth with all it could hold. Then I realized that I had no money, none at all, not even one lone quarter that usually lurked somewhere in the hidden depths of my pants pockets. I would have to find a job, earn some money so I could then buy the stuff I would need to live off of. I knew, deep in my mind, that this was a very stupid and unrealistic plan, especially since I held a close resemblance to the devil himself with my disheveled clothing and hair. I didn't care though. All I wanted was food, water, and a good night sleep.

I couldn't deny it any longer. I was starving, ready to eat _anything_, well, almost anything, that came my way. I was thirsty too, my mouth so dry I thought that if I tried to speak, nothing would come out. I quickly stooped down, grabbed my stick and began to hurry in the direction I had heard the sound of cars coming from, peering intently through the trees to see if I could spot any signs at all of an on coming road. I traveled silently for another couple of minutes, listening intently as the sound of the cars began to crescendo.

Finally, I reached the edge of the forest, the trees cutting off abruptly to become a straight line of recently mowed lawn. This eventually receded into a row of course, dry gravel, which lined both sides of the black pavement that served as a road. Hidden by the thick forest shrubbery I stared out over the painfully straight pavement, my clear blue eyes scanning the area thoroughly, taking in the hard cement with its vibrant yellow stripe running firmly down its middle. The road, probably some old rural country highway, stretched out as far as I could see to my right and left, following an amazingly straight and flat path with minute twists, turns, and hills. Out past this man-made specialty was a large expanse of field, stretching on and on for miles straight ahead of me, never seeming to end; farmland.

Houses and small buildings dotted the rolling hills with long, dry wild grasses that swayed gently in the soft breeze, ironically reminding me of my 7th grade science teacher who automatically began swaying as he taught. My classmates and I had always found this amusing, dubbing him, The Quaking Aspen. But that was all gone from me now, back in happier days. I would probably not start 8th grade like I had been planning too at the end of the summer because of my quest.

I shook my head to clear my mind of unwanted thoughts, quickly burst forth from the cover of the forest and threw myself into a determined trot in the direction I _hoped_ would lead me to civilization. With the luck I'd had lately this road was probably just an illusion and would lead me absolutely nowhere. I sighed. Staying out in the wild for days on end did strange things to you.

My head twitched. The harsh roar of a car engine could be heard, making its way steadily in my direction along the small highway. The sound started out as a quiet rush, it could almost be mistaken for a slight breeze, but soon crescendoed into a rushing roar as it neared me. I cast a quick glance over my shoulder. A tiny streak of blue could be distinguished from the vibrant blue of the sky, just topping the horizon. It was rapidly heading in my direction. I turned my head back to its original stance and continued walking, using my stick to guide my aching legs along the road.

As the car topped the rise of the land behind me I realized something; a scary thought. I quickly launched myself at the large trees of the forest, barreling straight into a thorny patch of brambles, landing with a painful thump on my stick. I cursed as the thorny points nicked my skin, sending forth bursts of pain down my arms and the other exposed parts of my flesh. The stick had probably left a large bruise where my leg had crashed into it too. I held still, though, mumbling something about stupid thorns that turned up where they weren't supposed to be.

Peering cautiously out through the bracken, still mumbling indistinguishable threats, I watched as the car zoomed by, completely oblivious to my hidden self. As soon as it had safely passed I jumped up, muttering curses on the thorn bush, and walked back out into the exposed area of the road. Thorns stuck horridly to my body making me feel remarkably like a giant pincushion.

What I had realized was that if anyone just driving their normal way along the highway saw a disheveled 13-year-old girl randomly walking along a rural highway, they would get inquisitive, stop and take me home. That was not something I particularly wanted.

I began to walk again; traveling in (I hoped) the same direction I had been going before that car showed up. I winced and began to yank the sharp thorns out of my body. It was painful, but I was glad when they were all out. I continued walking along, every now and again glancing warily around me just incase any cars decided to show up. Sure enough, maybe five minutes after the first car had passed I heard the faint roar of a car engine in the distance, steadily getting louder, but this time in front of me.

This time I looked before I leaped into the safe cover of the forest so I was not going to land on anything pokey or pointy. I sat there grimly and watched as this time a silver mini-van passed my hiding spot and, like the other car, continued on. I sighed with relief and stood up, quickly scanning the road before I stepped back out onto the grass.

I continued on in this fashion, beginning to feel thoroughly exhausted after about forty minutes of traipsing in and out of the forest, dodging cars. I finally trudged into the cover of the woods, and lay myself down on the ground, the smell of fresh earth wafting up to my expectant nostrils. It was about mid-day at this point; the brilliant yellow sun was shining down to filter through the thick canopy of trees that formed a cooling shade over my head. Pokemon called in the forest around me, but I ignored them, focusing on the restful sounds of the wind whispering through the trees. The rustling leaves sounded like peals of rich laughter ringing through the air. The trees were laughing, probably at something the wind had whispered to them. I smiled at this thought, and stared up at the light green and brown colors dotting the forest canopy.

Who knows how long I sat there, enjoying the beautiful summer day, letting the breeze gently caress my face and hair. I finally pulled my self back up to my aching feet and trudged out of the forest, onto the road. I had to continue on or else I might just stay there all day and never move again. I trudged along the road, my senses dulled from the long rest period I had just taken. I was tired too. I stifled a large yawn that threatened to crack my head in two, with my hand, stopping shortly as I did so before continuing on again.

Then, I stopped dead in my tracks, a wave of fear washing over me. I clenched my hands tighter around my stick, my knuckles whitening as I did. I couldn't move, couldn't do anything; my muscles wouldn't react to what my brain was plainly screaming at them. Move! Run for your life! Go! I couldn't. My muscles were locked firmly in place. I wanted desperately to move, but I just couldn't.

A silver car had come to a skidding halt right beside me. Somehow it had crept up on me as I walked. I hadn't noticed its presence until it was a few feet from my face. I had either been too exhausted to hear it, or my huge yawn had blocked out the sound of its approaching roar. Either way I was doomed.

"Hey! Kid! Are you lost?" A loud voice inquired as my frozen brain vaguely registered a car door slamming shut. The call somehow melted the ice that held my limbs firmly locked in place. I bolted towards the forest, pulling my stick up away from the ground to prevent it from tripping me.

My numb mind barely perceived a shout of "stop!" as my legs carried me painstakingly slowly towards the forest. If I could just reach it I would be fine! If the forest covered me I could escape! I had to reach the trees!

A large hand clamped down on my right shoulder, stilling me instantly. Immediately, as if it were a reflex, I began to struggle, jerking my head around to glare savagely into my captor's eyes. He was young man in his early 20's with sandy brown curls and light blue eyes, around the same color as mine.

"Whoa, kid, calm down!" He cried, tightening his iron grip on my shoulder; his white skinned face, tanned by long hours in the sun, set in grim determination.

"No!" I screamed at him, dropping my stick from my left hand so I could bring it up to try and pry his fingers loose from my shoulder. "Go away and leave me alone!" His fingers stayed clamped around my shoulder, biting uncomfortably into my collarbone.

"I'm just trying to…" He began, but I cut him off.

"Let me go!" I shrieked frantically.

My shriek carried over the sound of the breeze, startling that Pokemon filth once more into silence. The man's free hand came up to grip my flailing arm in his large callused one. I began to struggle harder, kicking him with my feet, trying desperately to make him let go. I had to make my escape and fast!

"All I want to know is what you're doing out here alone! Sandar-Rustboro Highway is no place for a young girl to be wandering by herself." The man said, shaking me slightly.

At least he'd been a bit of help. I now knew where I was, or, at least, had a vague idea. I just hoped I was heading in the direction of Rustboro and not Sandar. If I were, then I would just end up back where I started. It would have been a whole waste of time and energy.

"Darren!" I heard another voice call from the other side of the car followed closely by a car door slamming. Someone else was coming to help this man, Darren, kidnap me. Yes, that's what this was: a plight to kidnap me.

Darren had finally gotten a secure hold on my arm, ceasing my desperate struggling. It was hopeless. I had lost. I stood there and glanced over at the other figure pacing towards us. She was a pretty, not quite beautiful, young women, probably around the age of my captor, Darren, her raven black curls fell neatly down her slender back, accenting her almost too slim figure and startling silver eyes. Silver eyes? – I had never seen silver eyes in my life before. My eyes locked with the women's captivating me and holding me in place. All my perceptions of reality were gone lost in her strange, yet completely calming gaze.

My captivated mind barely perceived Darren towing me slowly towards the car. I followed along as easily as if I were a child following its mother. The car door was opened and I was pushed in, not roughly. As soon as I was in, the door slammed and the women's captivating gaze was broken. When I realized that I had somehow ended up in the car with the door closed I began to scowl.

The car was a small vehicle, furnished with tan leather seats, and not the soft material that had covered the interior of my mother's beige mini-van; it was a sign that they had money. The windows were clear and spotless, as if someone had gone over them with soap and water millions of times. I imagined the windows glittering with light like they did on the commercials. The whole car seemed to be spotless, as if recently vacuumed out.

I glanced over to my right and noticed for the first time that the car held one more occupant. It was a boy who seemed to be about my age, maybe a little older. His hair was the same raven black as the silver-eyed women's except it was straight and cropped short around his ears. His skin was a slightly darker color than mine, a great contrast to the silver-eyed lady's milky white complexion. I had a sudden sense of déjà vu as I looked at this boy. Where had I seen him before? The car shifted slightly and two doors slammed, one after the other as Darren and the lady got in.

"So," Darren said, inserting the key into the ignition slot and turning it. The car began to thrum and roar to life. "What's your name?"

I figured he was speaking to me, but I didn't want to answer. "Talia O'Connel of Sandar City, Hoenn," I mumbled my words barely audible.

"Pardon?" He asked, as the car pulled out onto the highway.

I stared down as my feet, which had suddenly become very interesting. "Talia O'Connel," I repeated, this time more loudly and clearly. I had decided not to tell them where I was from unless they asked. They might want to take me home then. I needed all the manipulation over these people that I could get. Why was I just letting complete strangers take me away like this anyway? I should just open the door and begin screaming for help, which I knew I wouldn't get.

"Nice to meet you Talia," Darren answered. "I'm Darren Crawburn. Sorry for sneaking up on you like that, but you really shouldn't be sneaking around the highway.

"We're going to take you home," The silver-eyed lady added, turning her pleasant face towards me, startling silver eyes intent on mine. "I'm Julia Smith by the way."

I just nodded dumbly and glared at the floor.

"Hey, where do you live?" Darren asked blue eyes intent on the road before him, "We were heading to Rustboro City, but we can make a detour and take you home, as long as it' not too far out of our way."

Rustboro City, so that's where they were heading. A plan began forming in my mind. I couldn't tell them where I lived because I did not want to go back there, but Rustboro City… He had said that they were heading for Rustboro. "I live in Rustboro," I lied, crossing my fingers behind my back, hoping desperately that they would believe me.

"Hey! What a coincidence! Since we're going there we'll just drop you off!" Darren grinned, looking at me through the review mirror. _Great_.

"Oh, the boy behind you is Drake, my cousin," Julia added with a quick glance at the scowling boy next to me.

I froze: Drake. No, it couldn't be. Not Drake _Coller._ There was absolutely no way. I turned to study the boy. He had the same black hair, the same black eyes and the same tan-ish skin. There was no mistaking it. This was Drake Coller. I knew this boy.

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_I distinctly remember that it was a chilly October day, and I was ten years old. A harsh shrill wind whipped at my blue striped windbreaker, causing me to tuck the rippling piece of cloth more securely around my body. Dry autumn leaves blew about the streets, occasionally flowing into small circular movements, creating a tiny whirlwind of debris. The bare branched deciduous trees mingled with the evergreens and shriveled brown oaks that clung to their prune-like leaves long after the rest of the other color flaming trees had given them up to the impending threat of winter. I also remember that it was a Saturday, and I was happy to have my freedom from the prison of school for the whole weekend._

_Deri, who had come down with the flu only last Thursday, was still busy recovering, and his mother denied the access of any outsiders to their home, and Reenie had some important swim meet to attend that day so I was left alone to amuse myself. It didn't help that my mom was working, as she always did on Saturdays, to earn a little extra income, so I concluded that I was in for an utterly boring day alone. There was nothing to do inside, as the confining boundaries of the house annoyed me and no homework had been assigned that weekend, so there I was stuck outside, in the chilling wind, to wander the streets of my neighborhood alone._

_Delany Park, named after some long dead founder of Sandar City, was only about four blocks away from my home, so, with nothing better to do, I set out, a ten year old girl, through the overcast day down toward the park. I loved that park. It had been my favorite play place for as long as I could remember. My mom loved it too, for the picturesque mix of fields, forests and lakes. I adored it for the amazing playground that not only offered fun equipment to the younger children, but to the older children as well. Delany Park was also full of winding trails through its vast premises on which I loved to wander about, exploring into all the little nooks and crannies of the park._

_No one seemed to have the nerve to be out in the chilling wind that day, so I had a free run of the deserted streets all the way to the park. Even fewer Pokemon were about than humans, but there were never many Pokemon about anyway in my part of the city, unless they were pets. The park was deserted, except for a few park personnel hanging about, so no one bothered me as I began to trek toward the famous playground. As soon as I reached the structure I could see that the park was not as deserted as I had first thought._

_A raven hared boy who appeared to be around my age was sitting atop the highest structure in the park, peering eagerly about the almost deserted area. I began to slow my strides slightly as I neared the structures and the boy. I wanted to be sure I did not know him so I didn't have to run away to avoid the inevitable questions that were bound to come. He had raised himself slightly higher on the structure now, and was grinning at me as I approached. He waved. I had been spotted. The boy seemed a little over friendly to me. I didn't know him. This didn't bode well with me, so I whirled around and began taking quick steps away from the playground._

"_Hey, you!" I heard the boy's friendly voice behind me, "Why are you running away?"_


	6. Chapter 5: Memories

**Learning to Heal the Hurt**  
**Chapter 5: Memories**

I stared out the window of the car, my eyes constantly moving as they took in the scenery that flew past. It had only been maybe ten minutes since I'd been picked up from the side of the road, but already I was restless and fidgety. I knew these people weren't kidnapping me. They were just taking me "home". I still think that just picking a random girl up off the highway is a little outgoing, _but_ I wasn't complaining anymore. It was actually pretty good. I was on my way to Rustboro, and much faster than my own two feet would've carried me, especially with my only partially healed leg aching away like there was no tomorrow.

I had barely been noticing the passing scenery, or what was going on with the other three occupants of the car, as I had been lost deep in my own memories. The car was whizzing down the highway, passing forest (on the left) and vast fields of wild grasses or a farmer's summer crop (on the right). The sky was still a shining crystal blue, but menacing, dark clouds were beginning to appear on the far eastern horizon, a promising sign of rain. The clouds appeared black enough to be storm clouds so I hoped we'd reach Rustboro before the storm reached us.

In the driver and passenger seats Darren, who was driving, and Julia, who rode in the passenger seat, was talking animatedly about something. I didn't pay much attention to it because they seemed to be having a conversation about car batteries, and that totally did not interest me. Drake… was just sitting, glaring at his feet, and keeping his eyes anywhere, but my side of the car. I knew why though. I thought he might not recognize me, but, as I now realized, he had heard my name so he knew who I was. He still seemed to be mad about… that.

I don't know what came over me then, but I had this sudden urge to apologize to him. Even if it had been three years and all I probably still owed him at least an apology.

"Um… Drake?" I said timidly, my voice barely audible above Darren and Julia's animated chatter. They were still talking about car batteries. I still don't get how anyone could get so excited over car batteries. I hardly knew what a car battery was anyway!

Drake's dark head jerked around to fix his black eyes on me. "Shut up," He growled, menacingly, his dark eyes flashing murder and hate. Man, it took a lot of anger to hold a grudge for three years, especially because it had happened when we were only ten.

I sighed. His words were awakening that fierce anger that was hidden away deep inside me. I struggled to keep it at bay. This would absolutely not be a good time to get angry.

"Why?" I asked sharply, sitting up straighter and glaring into his face. I could unleash at least a tiny bit of my anger, couldn't I?

"You know perfectly well why!" He snapped loudly, startling Darren and Julia into silence.

I turned away to glare out the window. If he was going to act like that then I would too. But I did know perfectly well what he was talking about.

----------

_Running away? I stopped and stared at the boy, hands stuffed securely in my windbreaker pockets. "I wasn't running away!" I denied indignantly._

_The boy shook his dark head, "Yes you were. You saw me and turned away." He was peering at me intently, much too intently for my liking. I dropped my gaze to the ground._

"_So," I scuffed a blue and white sneaker in the dust._

_The boy shrugged, "It doesn't really matter much. What's your name by the way?"_

"_Talia," I answered reluctantly, "You?" The question was posed more out of protocol than curiosity._

"_Glad to meet you Talia," He grinned and stuck a long fingered hand out at me, "I'm Drake Coller. I just moved here last week._

_I accepted his hand gingerly for only a moment, and dropped it. "Nice to meet you too," I replied politely and continued on, "Why haven't I seen you in school then if you live here?"_

"_My parents are still getting us all settled in," Drake replied with a casual shrug, "I'm beginning 5th grade next week._

_I stared at him, "I'm in 5th grade too!" I returned with a grin, driving my fingers deeper in to my pockets, "I wonder if you'll be in my class?"_

"_That'd be cool," Drake replied. The wind was beginning to pick up again, causing both of us to tuck our windbreakers closer in to our bodies._

"_Hey," Drake said suddenly, perking up slightly. He glanced around as if searching for something, "Do you know of any good climbing trees around here?"_

"_Are you kidding me?" I exclaimed with a grin, "I know every single climbing tree in this park!"_

"_Really?" Drake asked, his eyes widening in awe._

"_Yeah," I nodded, beginning to feel important, "I've been coming to this park since as long as I can remember."_

_A grin spread across Drake's angular features, "Then what are we waiting for!"_

_----------_

The sloshing sound of water in a bottle jolted me out of my memories. I turned my blue eyes up to glance around for the sound. Drake was still being his old, ornery self, just glaring pitifully at nothing. I turned away from him. He was acting like a jerk! It had been three years ago for goodness sake! We were still cruising our way along the highway, passing the same old scenery and occasionally a car or two. It wasn't that interesting after you'd stared at it for a while.

Water. I had heard the angelic sound of water. All of a sudden I became much more conscious of my aching, dry throat. I turned to stare up at the front of the car. Sure enough, Julia had brought out a bottle of clear, beautiful water, and was swishing it around in a whirl pooling motion.

I licked my parched, cracked lips unconsciously and stared at the bottle, almost loosing myself in its whirling, tempting, delicious wetness… I was so thirsty! I needed water! Come to think of it, the last time I'd tasted the sweet, refreshing liquid was yesterday morning. If only I could just get that water I'd…

"I think someone's thirsty," Darren's remark broke my concentrated train of thought. I turned my light blue eyes sharply towards the sandy haired young man at the wheel. His sea blue eyes were on my reflection in the rear view mirror. How did he know? He noticed too much.

Julia's curly black head turned in my direction. She smiled at Darren. I felt her strange silver gaze come to rest on me as her mouth twitched up in a slight smile. "Why, I do believe so." They both sounded as if they were addressing a young child. I hated that.

"You thirsty, Talia?" Darren asked eyes still on my distorted reflection in the mirror.

"Yes!" I burst out, a little too quickly. _Just give me water for goodness sake!_ Was all my liquid deprived mind could think.

"Here, you may have some if you wish," Julia said, handing the full water battle back towards me. My grubby hand, which I was now very self-conscious of in this all too clean car, shot out immediately and snatched it out of Julia's pale hand.

I barely remembered to mumble a short "Thanks" before the bottle was at my lips and the cool, sweet liquid was caressing down my dry, parched throat, quenching my great thirst. It was beautiful; the crystal clear life-giving water as it wet my lips and mouth, giving me a whole renewed strength. My only problem now was that I was hungry. I turned back to the window, gripping the precious water bottle protectively in my hands and stared out. The only thing I could do now was ignore my growing hunger as my thoughts drifted back to Drake.

----------

_The tree was massive. It has to be at least 150 years old with solid branches, thick enough to support ten full-grown men, which fanned out in every direction. When you climbed it, it was almost as if you were climbing a giant spiral staircase up into the very canopy of the forest. I had stumbled upon the tree by accident almost two years earlier when I had accidentally taken a wrong turn on one of the trails I usually followed, and it quickly led me to the tree. Scrambling up into its branches I had huddled against its trunk. Everything had been so beautiful up in the tree, high above everything I knew so well. Being that high up in the air had given me a new perspective of the world. All the everyday sites that I had seen for my entire life suddenly seemed new. Back then the mighty oak had put me in awe of it, and even now, nearly two years later, I was staring up at the beast as if it were the first time I'd ever beheld its majesty. Out of the corner of my eyes I could spy Drake's face, no doubt the exact mirror image of my own, his jaw hanging slack and wide open._

"_Here's the tree," I announced, tearing my gaze away from the giant oak, "It's really fun to climb. You'll like it." I grimaced as soon as the words left my mouth. It sounded as if I were giving a prepared speech._

_Drake nodded, a hint of a smile touching his lips, "Cool."_

_I reached for the first branch with cold fingers, and set my foot in the first foothold below it, pulling myself agilely up. The tree was swaying slightly in the biting wind, causing me to tighten my grip on the not-so-solid-seeming-anymore branches. Pulling myself a few branches higher I swallowed and paused, glancing back down at Drake. He still stood in the same position I'd left him, gaping up at the tree._

"_You coming or not?" I pressed quizzically. _

_The boy below me jumped slightly, as if startled, and shifted is dark gaze to my lone figure high above, "What? Oh, yeah," He said and jumped forward to grab the first branch as I had._

_It didn't take me much longer to reach the top of the tree, or, as close as I could get myself to it without breaking a branch. The closer to the top I got the thinner the branches became until I was sure if I'd been a pound or two heavier I would had snapped the branch and fallen the long dizzying drop down to the forest floor below. I gulped, that was a long, long way down, much further than I'd at first thought. Even with the thick branches below to break my fall I could be seriously injured if I fell._

"_Hey, Talia," Drake voice came from right below my foot. _

_I glanced down at him. He looked strange from my position. All I could see of him was his upturned face, and his arms clinging to the branches, "What?"_

"_Are you going to climb higher or not? I want to keep going higher."_

_I stared down at him, "Are you crazy! The branches are far too thin up here. They barely hold me; if you go any higher they'll break on you!"_

_Drake shook his head and grinned, "Nope, not me. I have something called luck. The branches won't break on me."_

_I stared at him, "Luck won't help if you do something stupid."_

_He didn't answer, only shrugged and began climbing up onto the branch my foot was resting on. A gust of wind shook the tree. I shuddered and hung on tighter. I was beginning to think that this tree climbing business wasn't such a good idea after all._

_Drake was level with me now and still climbing. I could feel the branch we shared bending dangerously far. He could get us both seriously injured this way. "Drake!" I hissed to him, "Stop climbing and go back down! If you go any higher or stay on this branch you or both of us will get hurt! The branches just aren't strong enough!"_

_Drake stared at me and shook his head stubbornly, "No, I won't go back down. You go back down."_

_I glared at him, "Well, I'm not retreating either!"_

"_Fine, then be that way."_

"_Drake!" I hissed warningly._

_He stared at me defiantly and reached for the next branch._

"_Drake!" I don't know what made me do it, but I shot my arm out to knock his away from the branch he was reaching for. At the exact same moment my hand came into contact with his arm, a giant gust of wind sprung up, slamming into the tree with an alarming force, and into Drake and me. Caught in his one moment of weakness, Drake lost his footing, and his other hand let go of the branch. Before I could do anything to stop him, Drake was plummeting down out of the tree, toward the solid earth below._

----------

"Looks like we've reached the ocean!" Darren's cry broke through my thoughts, startling me back to reality.

I refocused my eyes on the passing land rushing steadily by the car window as we plowed firmly on. The scenery had definitely changed since I'd last taken a good look at it. As Darren had said, there was the sea. The water extended for miles upon miles from the shore, dark blue-green water receding into the lighter blue of the cloudless sky. The perfect crystal waves crashed against the sandy shore, etching the ocean white sand with intricate patterns. The brilliant orange sun shone brightly down on the water, sunlight reflecting in beautiful colors off the surface.

"We'll soon be in Rustboro," Julia announced, eyes, like mine, on the ocean too.

I nodded. That was good. I would soon reach Rustboro and would figure out what I wanted to do. Then I realized I had absolutely no idea where I was going. No idea at all. I had just passed days in the wilderness with no apparent idea where I was going, with only the thought of sweet revenge to fill my mind and push me on.

And where should I go? I couldn't just travel everywhere in Hoenn trying for my revenge. It wasn't practical. I needed to find the most effective place to carry out my revenge. Once it was done I would be satisfied, maybe not with the idea of Pokemon still living, but I would be satisfied. I just couldn't kill every single Pokemon there was. There were simply too many of them. But, then again, I had nowhere to go to direct my anger. What if I went to Rustboro, and got my revenge there. That was it. I would travel to Rustboro and get my revenge on the Pokemon there. That was my plan. It was perfect…

----------

_I wasn't aware of my scream as I witnessed Drake's body strike branch after branch as he fell. I was barely aware of his either. It wasn't until a few seconds after Drake's body hit the ground that I was able to think, let alone move._

"_Drake!" I screamed above the gales of wind attempting to send me after the boy, and tear the tree from the earth, "Drake! Answer me!" He wasn't responding at all. I had to get down and help him. Terror engulfed my body, but carefully I forced myself to climb down the tree to safety and to Drake's aid. Stray twigs caught at my hair and clothing as I hastily descended, and by the time I had the good solid earth beneath my feet again I had obtained numerous scrapes and scratches all over my face and hands._

What had I done? _I asked myself fearfully as I reached Drake's side, _Had I just killed someone?_ My hands were shaking uncontrollably as I stared at Drake's immobile body, _What had I done?

"_Help!" I screamed as the first trace of tears began to slip down my face, "Help me!"_

_It took only a few minutes for the next person to arrive on the scene, an experienced park ranger, but when he did he quickly took charge of the hopeless situation, calling other park personnel, 911, and my mom and Drake's parents onto the scene. Drake was found unconscious with what appeared to be a broken arm and a couple of fractured ribs, and was quickly rushed off to the hospital, leaving my badly shaken self to cry into my mother's arms. Nothing seemed to comfort me right then, and my mind refused to dwell on anything else but that one question repeating itself over and over in my head: What had I done?_

_My question wasn't answered until almost two weeks later, when Drake was finally released from the hospital. Drake had suffered many minor scrapes and cuts from his fall, three broken ribs, a broken arm and a concussion. Luckily for him he had not slipped into a coma from which he might've never awakened. I had been in to visit the boy I barely knew many times during the time he was unconscious in the hospital. He'd been out for three days, but luckily awoke soon after the accident. I never visited him while he was awake, for which I was very glad later on._

_The days had only continued to get colder as the days passed since the accident. I was afraid to leave the house when I wasn't at school, and mostly sat moping around inside all day when I did not have any schoolwork. Drake never did appear at school the next week like he said he would, but that didn't surprise me much. What did surprise me however was the first day Drake confronted me after the accident._

_I had been out in the front yard, sitting under the large cherry tree with my eyes closed, enjoying the cold warmth of the day. I was tired, as I had been having many sleepless nights the past two weeks, and I was trying to catch a short nap before I had to go in and do my homework._

"_Well, look who it is," A cold voice spoke. I opened my eyes lazily and tilted my head in the direction the voice had emanated from._

"_Drake!" I cried, jumping up a little too quickly. I placed a hand against the cherry tree to steady myself while I waited for the short spell of dizziness to pass. Drake stood just outside our yard, a heavy coat gracing his thin frame. His left arm was in a cast, and he had a few partially healed scratches on his cheeks. His eyes were icy glints of steel. I shivered; my happiness at seeing him well vanished._

"_Yes," He said quietly, in a way I did not interpret as friendly, "It is I, Drake, the boy you almost killed." He sounded so formal, not at all like the boy I had known before the accident._

_I stared at him, my unease quickly turning into confusion, "Kill you? I did not almost kill you!"_

_He glared at me, "Yes you did, girl! You cannot deny it or runaway from the truth! You almost killed me!"_

"_What? How did I almost kill you Drake?" I was glaring at him now, my anger growing, "I had nothing to do with that accident! It was your fault you let go!"_

"_I did not let go! You pushed me!"_

"_On my life I did not push you!" I cried defiantly, "The wind knocked you off!" I wished I could believe my own words._

"_You pushed me and there is nothing more to it," He snapped, "Anyway, I did not come here to argue with you about what you did or didn't do. I came here to say that my family is moving."_

"_M-moving?" I stuttered, disbelief crossing my face, "But why? You just got here!"_

"_I thought you had more brains than that Talia," Drake's voice was icy._

_I glared at him, "I have more than you'll ever have leastways!"_

_He ignored my insult, "We are moving to Pacifidlog in hopes that no one there will try to kill my parent's only child!"_

_I stared at him, deep sadness piercing me to my very bones. Even his parents thought I was a criminal. I felt like crying right then and there, but I didn't; I couldn't._

"_Oh," Was all I said._

"_Goodbye," Drake said shortly. With that, he whirled around, and began retreating back down the sidewalk the way he'd come._

_That was the last time I ever saw Drake, or heard for him for that matter. But now, three years later, I met him by pure accident. It's a small world is all I can say; a very small world._


	7. Chapter 6: Battle to Power

**Learning to Heal the Hurt – Book I: Fire Red  
Chapter 6: Battle to Power**

We were still driving down the Sandar-Rustboro Highway towards Rustboro City, one of the three largest cities in all Hoenn. The two other large cities were Lilycove City--a costal city--and Slateport City--a large shipping port. I had never been out of Sandar in my entire life excepting last summer when Mom and I traveled to far away Pallet Town, Kanto for my grandmother's funeral. Pallet town is quite a small town, far smaller than Sandar. I had never been to a larger city than Sandar either, so I was excited, as well as a little nervous, about being on my own in such a large city.

I would have to sleep out in the streets if I couldn't find any place to stay. I had never done that before. The city streets, I had learned all my life, were dangerous, just like in Sandar, with thugs, thieves and gangs roaming at free will. If I became really desperate, the Pokemon Center offered free lodging for anyone who cared to stay—but that was only if I was really desperate.

"Talia?" Darren's light voice broke through my thoughts. Damn him. I grunted. I did not want them asking questions. "May I ask you a question?" Damn, no. I shrugged, hiding my inside thoughts.

"Is that a yes or a no?" I grunted again. Let him figure it out for himself. "I'll take that as a yes." I shrugged again. "What were you doing on the side of the highway so far from Rustboro? Why would you leave you're home? Rustboro's a good city."

"I was traveling," I answered, eyes glued to the window. It wasn't exactly a lie. More of a half-truth.

"Why?" Why? What did it matter?

"I felt like it," Why couldn't I think of good answers! My mouth kept saying the first thing that came to my mind no matter the consequences! Stupid mouth.

"Rustboro's a good place," Darren repeated. He was stuck on that.

"Uh…I was…" I began, only to be interrupted, surprisingly, by Drake's cold voice.

"She doesn't live in Rustboro."

I whipped my head quickly around, forehead thumping painfully against the unbelievably hard glass of the car window as I did. I glared icily at Drake, who was sitting as calm as could be, staring neutrally out the window, only his blazing eyes betraying any kind of emotion at all.

"I do live in Rustboro!" I hissed fiercely to him as a silent stab of fear drifted into my heart. I had forgotten that Drake knew where I lived. I had to make something believable up fast.

"No," He replied calmly, "You live in Sandar."

"Not anymore!" I shot back, beginning to feel the hot rage bubbling up inside me.

"You know as well as I do that your mom hates to move. She told me once," Drake wore a smug expression on his face now, sending darts of rage coursing through my body so I had to struggle very hard not to pop. I glared daggers at his dark form. He wasn't even looking at me!

Darren and Julia exchanged worried glances. "You two know each other?" Julia asked uncertainly.

"Yes," Drake and I answered in perfect unison, quickly turning to glare at each other as we did. Drake's black, black eyes glared murder and hate, seeming to bore right into me.

"Drake? Why do you say Talia lives in Sandar?" Darren asked seriously.

I glanced out the window, dreading the answer Drake would give them. I needed a good explanation, fast. I glanced at the sky and grimaced. The purple-black cloud was flying closer and closer towards us with every passing second. Flashes of lightning bolts could be spotted, hurtling down from the heavens, striking and destroying anything in their deadly path. Amidst all this a steady, heavy rain was pouring itself out from the clouds. I shuddered. I hated thunderstorms. They were one of the very few things that terrified me.

"She just does," Drake answered Darren's question simply. Good, a non-convincing answer.

"Idiot," I murmured under my breath. The louder, "I lived in Sandar until last year, dolt," I was making this right up on the spot.

"You're mom doesn't like to move," Drake pointed out coldly, his voice like ice as his eyes displayed a burning fire of anger. The most annoying thing was, he was correct.

"She died," I said as calmly as I could, trying to keep from bursting out that Pokemon had done the deed and shut my mother's life off forever.

"Oh, Talia! I'm so sorry…" Julia started, her face softening.

"Last year," Okay, so maybe this was a slight bluff, but I needed it. "So I moved in with my Aunt who lives in Rustboro." The story was good so far and they seemed to believe it.

At this news Drake fell silent. He seemed to believe my story too, and was completely caught off guard. Good, that would shut him up for the remainder (I hoped) of the trip. We sat in silence for another few minutes, Darren futilely trying to strike up a conversation a few times. The only one who ever answered him was Julia, but even then it was only half heartedly, and Darren never had any answer.

Almost out of nowhere, I had a sudden urge to apologize to Drake. Even if it wasn't my fault exactly for almost killing him I still felt I owed him an apology for kind of, sort of pushing him off the branch, even when the wind had done most of the shoving.

"Drake… I…" I began timidly. Apologizing was not something I did often. I didn't like it. For me it was a complete humiliation.

"Shut up!" He snapped gruffly, his black eyes glaring murderously in my direction.

"Why do you still hold that against me?" I cried, my curiosity overtaking my sensibility. He was acting like a complete jerk. Idiot as he was he still shouldn't hold a grudge for _three years_! A month or two I could understand, but _three years_? Drake must have not found something else to place a grudge against in his wonderful, killer free Pacifidlog town. He was just plain stupid. Then again, was I being stupid for holding this grudge against Pokemon? No, of course not! My predicament was an entirely different matter, and had absolutely nothing to do with Drake!

"I…" He stammered uncertainly, black eyes flicking to the carpeted and inhumanly clean floor for the car. So, he had no real reason for hating me. Weak. All of a sudden he came back to his usual boldness, almost deafening me with his roar, "Because you almost killed me, dimwit!"

"Heck! I didn't mean to!" I shot back, just as fiercely, "I was only ten!"

"Oh, and thirteen is eons older I suppose," He sneered sarcastically, "That's still no excuse!" The veins in his neck were standing out as he clenched his teeth angrily. He was mad.

"Whoa, guys, calm down!" Darren tried to sooth us. It was a futile attempt. Drake was too mad. I was on the very brink of my pit of rage, ready to dive in head first with one more nudge.

"That was a fricken three years ago!" I shouted at him. I was shaking with anger, ready to grind him to bloody pulp at any moment. The only thing that held me back was the very fine barrier of rationality that always seemed to be there, and the car seat belt.

"You still almost killed me!" He screamed, clenching his fists and straining against the seatbelt, which seemed to be holding him at bay, like me. His face was almost completely red, so red I thought he might pass out from lack of oxygen.

"You're…you're just acting like a little kid!" I shouted. He glared at me. I glared back. We were getting nowhere, fast.

"And you're just saying that to make me mad!" Drake spat, his black eyes flashing furiously.

That was a remark that gave me the advantage. "Correct," I smirked, grinning maliciously right into his ugly face. I folded my arms, taking on an air of superiority.

His eyes brightened in anger, and he gnashed his teeth at me like a wild animal. He had almost become one with the way he was acting. Drake's face twisted into a terrible knot of rage, his knuckles whitening as he clenched them in a tight fist. He was definitely mad. So was I. I felt like I was being washed in a hot shower of my fearsome rage. My rage was against absolutely everything; Pokemon, though slightly dulled to my surprise, backed up by, well, everything, not just Drake. He just happened to be the unfortunate person I let it out on.

He got really quiet all of a sudden and glared at me, his black eyes boring hatred into mine. I glared back, giving him glare for glare, daring him to do something about our quarrel. Without warning, he lunged for me, his clawing arms extended. His eyes were filled with a mad rage; his mouth was parted in an ugly snarl. I stared dumbly at his clawing arms. Whatever I had expected, this was not it. I raised my arms for self-defense, almost a little too late. His swiftly moving limbs clashed with mine in a flurry of activity. I had never had to block a punch before, and I must tell you, it's painful; my arms almost went numb from the fierce contact.

Drake grabbed hold of me and started twisting my arms around. A piercing wave of pain shot through my abused limbs, startling a sharp cry out of my lips. I twisted around, desperately trying to wriggle out of his murdering grip and make him let go without endangering my arms anymore.

"Drake!" Julia yelled aghast, her face a picture of disbelief, "Drake! Talia! Stop this right now!" She shouted.

I hardly heard her as I twisted in Drake's powerful grip. Fighting was hard, harder than I had first thought it would be, especially because I was strapped down to the seat. I lunged about, dodging this blow and that, managing to throw a punch in from time to time. Drake's attack was fast and fierce. His rage towards me and his greater strength began to give him the upper hand, and I began to be pushed down, more and more of his blows actually cracking against my unprotected flesh. I winced every time the pain erupted along my body as his blows landed faster and faster. I felt like one aching load of bruises.

Finally I shifted my knee, jamming it sharply up and hit him squarely in the stomach, forcing the breath out of his lungs. It came out with a whoosh, showering me directly in the face with his foul breath. He wasn't the only one gagging for breath now. I recovered quickly, a stab of fear striking my heart. If Drake hadn't been coughing and wheezing at the same time I was I would be dead, or at least very hurt. Drake went on gasping for breath and loosened his grip.

I took this moment of distraction to pull my arm free and grab him around the head, locking him in a tight headlock. I yanked his head down under my arm, and held it there. Drake started flailing wildly, swinging his arms this way and that. I held him firmly in my grasp. The muscles of my arms began to hurt; all that lactic acid building up inside them, as they stood tensed against Drake's wild struggling.

All of a sudden Drake's flailing arm caught me full in the face. My cheek burned, pain erupting along my jaw, startling a sharp cry from me. Slaps did hurt. A lot. I unthinkingly put a hand to my face, releasing Drake as I did so. Drake twisted skillfully away from me, and bunched his hand into a fist then let it fly. I didn't see it coming so it hit me, straight in the face.

Pain exploded around my nose and mouth, strange sparks of color blossoming in front of my dazed eyes, blurring my vision. I began to panic. I was hurt, dazed, wounded, what ever you wanted to call it, and defenseless against Drake's next attack. I had to gain control of myself or else I'd end up even more seriously wounded than I already was. Finally my vision cleared, only by the pure rage that was coursing through my veins. He had hurt me and he would pay.

It was then that I noticed the affect of that bruising punch. My nose was spilling a warm, sticky liquid out all over my face and onto Drake. My clothes were also getting blood on them. I pulled back and quickly wiped the excess blood from my face but it just kept flowing. _A river of blood_, I thought with disgust, _that's what my nose is becoming_.

"Drake! Talia! I'm going to have to pull over to the side of the road if you don't stop now!" Darren barked at us.

Neither of us listened. I couldn't stop now, not without hurting Drake in return for what he had done to me! Drake pulled his fist back for another blow. This time I saw it coming and twisted out of the way. His fist scraped my back. I gritted my teeth and flung my body back towards the seat with all my strength, slamming Drake's arm back into the semi-soft cushion. He hollered in pain and so did I. His arm was biting into my backbone, sending waves of aching pain through my back. I flung myself forwards again and twisted around fast, grabbing Drake's arms and twisting them around each other. He was getting the same treatment he'd given me earlier.

He yelled at me, dark eyes blazing. My blue eyes glared back at him, filled with the same, anger, hate, and determination. His mouth was twisted in an angry scowl. Then he brought his mouth down on my arm, biting me hard. I cried out and twisted away from him, dropping his arms in a desperate attempt to ease the pain where his teeth had sunk into my flesh. Then, I had an idea, something that just hadn't occurred to me before.

I reached my hand down, searching for the seatbelt buckle. My groping fingers made contact with the cold metal. Leaning forward I quickly pushed the buckle down, releasing the seat belt. At the same moment Drake shoved his knee up, smashing into my bloody face. I reeled back, my jaw exploding into pain. As I did so the seatbelt snapped up, whacking Drake full in the jaw with a gruesome crack.

I landed face down in the other seat, and before I had anytime to recover, Drake launched himself at me despite his pain and the rapidly growing lump on his chin. I saw him coming at me, his eyes filled with an uncontrollable rage. He had undone his seatbelt too. My brain froze. All of a sudden rage like a wild fire built up in me, a rage so strong that I had to let it out on someone. I flipped myself over quicker than I could have imagined was humanly possible, and raised my arms in the air. I locked my elbows, bracing myself for the great impact of his body weight when it came, crashing down on my limbs. I had to protect myself!

He came down, his ripping weight smashing into my upturned hands. I winced sharply at the pain that shot through them. I hadn't expected that pain so I wasn't ready for it at all. My arms felt as if they would loose hold of him any minute, collapsing and bringing Drake down on me any second. His weight was heavy but I couldn't let him win.

Then I heard something crack. That crack was the last thing I wanted to hear in the world. That crack sent me into a world of agonized pain and pure terror. My right arm buckled, landing Drake on top of me with a loud thud! I screamed, one piercing scream. Then I became silent from the pure pain that coursed through my veins, threatening to send me into a rolling darkness. My brain was a jumble of thoughts as I lay there on the seat, nothing entering my whirling mind. My arm was in a position that was unnatural for any human arm. My head was whirling and Drake was on top of me, pinning me to the seat.

Then, suddenly, I felt better. I felt well enough to jump up and run around. My head cleared and I could see clearly. Some pure, soothing warmth that ran through my entire body chased all those small aches and pains away. The pain in my broken arm was chased from my thoughts, as it became a dull ache with the power that flowed through me.

Then came the joy. It was a pure, unexplainable joy that I was part of the greatest power in the universe. A steady rhythm was beating in my very soul, synchronizing with something I had once known in a far off time. But was it really that far off? Had I been here days? Months? Weeks? Years, even?

I felt elated, full of energy. My arm still seemed to be broken, but I was energized, full to bursting with a great power that wasn't my own. I had the wonderful sensation that I was floating on air.

I inched my swollen eyes open a crack. So maybe my vision hadn't cleared. All I could see before me was a great red mist, but the mist was soothing and comforting, and it was the same amazing red as the Fire Red stone. It was the source of my joy, of the power I felt.

I began trembling, some unknown emotion taking hold of my body. This power was so powerful and amazing! And it was mine. It was all mine. I realized in that one moment, that if I wanted to I had the power to destroy. Tears sprang to my eyes. The power that was commanding me was so great, so powerful; it was so hard to hold!

All of a sudden, I began to hear things through my joy and power filled state. Words. Voices. Voices speaking. The red mist began to clear and the power filled emotion began to slip away.

_No!_

Then I was back in reality again. At least I thought I was. A blinding red light filled the car, blocking my vision totally with its brilliance. The pain I had felt before was still there, but duller now. I heard voices.

"Crap! Crap-crap-crap-crap!" That was Darren. "Crap!" He screamed again. "I can't see the road!"

"What is this? What's this red light?" Julia was shrieking, adding to the rising din in the small car.

Drake was just screaming, screaming uncomprehendingly. He sounded like he was in pain. I grinned. That was the red powers doing.

"What is this?" Julia shrieked again. I knew.

"Crap! Damn! Crap!" Darren again, "Brace yourselves guys! We're going off the road!"

I lay still, breathing deeply and grinning. We were going off the road. Who cared? We were going to die. Who cared? My arm was broken. Who cared? Drake was screaming. Who cared?

My train of though went on and on like this. I didn't care about anything. Just the great presence I had felt flowing through my veins only a few minutes previous, the power that I knew came from the Fire Red stone. I was filled with it. It was in me to stay. I was its keeper until the day when the fire monster would come again and reclaim its power through me.

Wait! Where had that come from? I just seemed to know that without anyone telling me so. The thought itself was scary.

All of a sudden the car jerked, throwing me roughly into the middle seat, my broken arm jerking along with me. Pain erupted in my arm, but not the great pain it would have been had I been alone, without the power. Still it hurt and a sharp cry erupted from my lips.

The car jerked again and I could see. The red light cleared away, sending all the pain back into my body that had been dulled considerably to the point where I could bear it. Now it was back with twice the force. I began screaming. Searing pain shot down my right arm, all the scrapes and bruises I had obtained during the fight with Drake, which now seemed to have happened days ago, began to scream in pure agonizing pain. My whole body shrieked out in agony.

The car jerked a third time, but this time it didn't right itself again. I briefly heard Darren shouting and Julia screaming, but Drake had gone completely silent. He had passed out from the pain. The front end of the car was positioned at a downward slant and I didn't have a seat belt on.

Then my head was jerked savagely down as the small car hurtled off the road and into the ditch at the side of the highway. I didn't have my seat belt on. All of a sudden I felt my body being hurled forward towards the dashboard. I was powerless to stop myself. Then everything seemed to turn into slow motion, as if I were somebody else, watching myself fly to my doom. I saw myself fly forward at a sickening pace. I saw the dashboard come closer and closer, the black knobs and buttons all blurring before my dazed eyes. Then, I heard more than felt my head cracking sickeningly against the dashboard. And pain. My mind whirled and buzzed; a roaring headache was threatening to split my head in two. My mind began to shutdown. I was hurled, headlong, into a deep pit of whirling darkness.


	8. Chapter 7: A Strange Prophecy

**Learning to Heal the Hurt – Book I: Fire Red  
Chapter 7: A Strange Prophesy**

Reenie stared dumbly after the rapidly retreating form of Talia as she crashed deep into the dark interior of the forest, away from their sunny little clearing. Well that was certainly unexpected. Then again, most of the things Talia had done lately were very irrational, and much unlike her. She had been touchy about everything, especially Pokemon. Reenie and Deri had gone to great measures to avoid the subject in the last three days they had been together. It had to be from the shock of loosing her mother that she acted this way. Reenie was not exactly sure she would have blown up like that if one of her parents had died, but then again, Mrs. O'Connel was the only one Talia had left in the world. Losing her was like the deathblow to her rationality.

She did have to admit though, Talia was kind of overreacting

Deri heaved a long, wavering sigh. "She's mad at the world. Mad at herself for letting her mother die."

She glanced quickly over at him. He sat, staring straight in front of him, back pressed against the sturdy tree, knees drawn up to his chest. His short black hair fluttered softly in the faint breeze, and he barely blinked at all.

"I never really thought of it that way," She murmured softly.

Deri inclined his head slightly, "She has to find someone to take her grief-fueled anger out on. Pokemon just happened to be the unfortunates she chose."

"Where do you think she'll go?" She asked uncertainly.

Deri shook his head. "You can't really say. In her state she could end up anywhere. I don't believe she herself even has any idea where she's going."

"D'you think we did the right thing? Following her I mean?" Reenie was full to bursting with questions and doubts. Deri was always a good source for the hard to answer questions she always seemed to have. Plus, he was her friend and she trusted him to help and give her the correct answers to the best of his ability.

"Definitely," Deri answered her question confidently; "She was in one heck of a mess when we found her, with her leg and all. And," He gestured in the vague direction Talia had taken only a few minutes before, a slow grin spreading across his sharp features, "She leaves a pretty good trail."

Reenie gave him a half-hearted grin in return and nodded, hope growing deep inside of her. "We should follow her y'know. She may need our help."

"We'll follow her soon enough. Just give her some time to cool off; maybe an hour or two. Like I said before, her trail is more than easy to follow. We'll be able to find her in no time."

"Whatever you say, Deri."

----------

It was around noon by the time they had packed up camp, shouldered their all too heavy packs and began the journey. Deri was the self-appointed leader since Reenie knew absolutely nothing about tracking. Deri had taken a tracking class the summer before at a summer camp, and knew enough to follow Talia's plain trail. She had to admit, the times he had gone to camp she always thought they were useless, but now she was glad he had attended. Talia's path of destruction was even plain enough for her to vaguely guess where she had gone.

They traveled on through the rough forest for the next couple of hours, only communicating when they absolutely had to; and even then it was only in short grunts and nods. The way seemed to be getting harder and harder as the pair traveled, her pack seeming to grow heavier and heavier as they went.

Sweat began to break out in tiny beads on her forehead, and she stumbled more than once over a log or root jutting out of the earth. She did have to admit, though, that the scenery was beautiful. The trees were flashes of brilliant color as they swayed gently in the soft breeze, reaching their giant limbs up towards the sapphire sky, as if in a race to see who could receive the most attention from the glowing orange sun. Pokemon called out from the trees, adding a chaotic yet harmonic atmosphere of the forest. She cracked a small smile which immediately turned into a grimace as her knee sharply scraped against a thorny vine hanging out across the path.

Directly in front of her, Deri was walking with a plodding gait, casting his dark brown eyes everywhere, studying a broken branch here, stooping to stare at a deep foot print in the soft mud there. Reenie welcomed these brief pauses whole-heartedly as she dropped her pack gratefully to the soft earth beneath her feet so that she could flex her painfully cramped shoulders for a slight couple of seconds before Deri would straighten up, nod to her to do the same and plod continually on, she with him.

_Finding Talia quick and easy? Yah, right_, Reenie thought sarcastically. Other than these brief pauses that couldn't really be called a rest, they didn't stop at all. Apparently Deri was very insistent on finding Talia within the space of twenty-four hours. So they just walked and walked and walked and walked until she could've sworn her legs were just about to drop off her body if she moved one step further!

She didn't complain. After all it was for Talia's sake that she was putting herself through all this. She was her friend. They had known each other so long that Talia was like the sister she'd never had. Reenie had always been glad of Talia in the years past whenever she was desperately in need of female attention, or just wanted to get away from her brothers (she had four). She could always go to her friend if she was in need of anything. Mrs. O'Connel had been like a second mother to her as well. It pained her almost as much as Talia to see her die. It was just that she didn't take it the same way Talia did.

Deri came to a complete stand still so suddenly that she almost barged straight into him. If she hadn't looked up from her reverie in time she would have done so, and they both would probably have ended up sprawled on the ground.

"What?" Reenie asked Deri, quickly recovering herself from the near collision. "What are you stopping for?"

"Shhh. I hear something," He answered, barely moving a muscle as he spoke softly.

She promptly shut her mouth, and tuned her ears in for…well, anything unusual that could have caused Deri to stop so suddenly. She heard Pokemon calling, wind swishing among the trees and grasses; she could hear her heart beating if she listened really hard, and cars rushing by on the highway; she heard water rushing down a small stream and she heard…

"Cars!" Deri exclaimed, his voice booming loudly in her ears.

_Cars? What was unusual about cars? A highway, sure, people too; nothing out of the ordinary._

"What about them?" Reenie asked, thoroughly baffled.

"Oh, Reenie, cars!" He repeated.

"And…"

"People are in cars so that means there is a road or highway up ahead! It means civilization!"

She blinked, the information taking a moment to register in her mind. If there was civilization Talia might be there!

"So, if we go to this road we can follow it, and get to civilization!" She grinned. A good hot meal and a nice long shower seemed like the greatest thing in the world right then…

"Not exactly," Deri said, shattering her daydream about one big hamburger with cheese and ketchup dripping off the sides… She shook her head. Thinking like this was not good for her. It made her stomach grumble, and realize for the first time that she was starving!

"So, what was your point on the road?" She asked, quizzically.

"It can help us figure out where we are. Once I know the approximate location I can figure out which direction Talia's headed, and which cities we'll come upon."

"You know the exact locations of Hoenn's cities?" Reenie asked incredulously. She was not one for maps, but she could read them if she had to; she just didn't like too.

"Yah, to a certain extent, but for now we just have to follow Talia's trail," Deri turned back around, and continued on.

"Oh," Was the only thing she said. Her head was beginning to ache a little, and she hoped it would soon go away. A headache was the last thing she needed right now.

They plodded along at what seemed like an unbearably slow rate for the next few minutes, Reenie's headache increasing rapidly every single second as every bone in her body began to ache with every single step she took. She kept moving, though, one painful step after another.

Only a few minute's more (though it seemed like hours to her roaring brain), and they had reached the source of the noise they had been hearing. Deri had been right, she thought fleetingly. It was a road, a rural highway actually (Sandar-Rustboro Highway an informative road sign told them), with fields extending out as far as the eye could see on the opposite side of the road from them. A threatening black cloud was rolling up on them, full to bursting with water. It was a gigantic storm.

She didn't notice any of this as the pain in her body was growing almost unbearable, and she began to get a sick feeling right at the very pit of her stomach, as if I was going to throw up. Every joint in my body ached, almost unbearably, making it exceedingly hard to keep on moving. The pain was the worst in her roaring head, as if something was trying to burst its way through into her brain.

Deri kept to the forest as they began to follow the road north, according to him. By now she could barely keep my eyes open, and her legs moving. Her fingers hurt, her arms hurt and legs, her head, her feet, her back, everything felt as if they were being torn up from the inside. She was woozy, and could barely stand straight, let alone think, and every tiny movement made her feel as if a thousand needles were darting into her flesh. She felt horrible.

Finally, after what seemed like a prolonged age, Deri stopped and glanced around, a confused look crossing his face. She stood, staring dumbly at nothing, her green eyes glazing over as random spots of color began to dance before them.

Suddenly a terrible apparition of a huge transparent monster appeared before her delirious, unseeing eyes and rushed straight toward her. She barely had time to become frightened let alone comprehend what she was seeing. Right before it collided with her defenseless form, crushing her with its immense weight, she let out one ear-splitting shriek… and was swallowed by a void of seething darkness.

A sharp scream tore through the air behind him, causing Deri to jump. He whacked his head painfully up into the leafy branches of the large sycamore tree above him. As soon as he'd regained his composure, getting his head untangled from the trees, he turned his eyes over to where the shout had come from…and almost fell over backwards.

Reenie lay crumpled out on the mucky black earth of the forest floor in what looked to be a very uncomfortable position. Her eyes were tightly shut, but he could see by the steady rise and fall of her chest that she was still breathing. Her chestnut brown hair fell lazily across her face, masking any expression she had held when she fell that could have betrayed any emotion she had felt while going unconscious. A stab of fear tore through his heart as he took in the horrible scene. His first reaction was panic.

What had caused Reenie to collapse like that? She looked to be unconscious, but was she hurt even worse than she appeared? Were there any broken bones? Should he move her?

Deri rushed quickly over to her side, dropping his heavy pack to the ground as he did. Was she okay? If she wasn't…that was something he couldn't bring himself to think about. She just had to be all right! She just had too!

He reached out a tentative finger, and touched her hand lightly. His head began to swim with fear and shock as his hand met her flesh. It was freezing cold; far too cold to be natural! He stared at his best friend's pitiful form lying sprawled out on the ground, his hand barely resting on hers. She didn't seem to be doing very well. Fear washed through him, settling at the very pit of his stomach, making him feel as if he needed to throw up. Reenie was hurt, and there was no way, nothing at all, to help her.

Suddenly her eyes snapped wide open. The movement was so fast and sudden that Deri almost missed it.

_Reenie! _

He felt relief spreading through him like wildfire, and he was quite sure it was showing on his sharp, strained features as well. He grinned. At least she wasn't unconscious anymore.

Then, suddenly, Reenie sprang to her feet with unnatural agility, even for her, causing him to loose his balance. His flailing foot caught on a tangle of upraised roots, and he was down, his lower back landing on a pile of sharp rocks. He winced, stifling a sharp shout of pain that was threatening to force its way out of his mouth so that it only emitted as a pitifully strangled squeak. He pulled himself quickly to his feet, rubbing his lower back vigorously as a futile attempt to ease the pain, and the rapidly growing bruise that he was sure was spreading steadily up his back.

"Reenie!" Deri complained, turning his gaze back to where his friend stood, "What was that for? You could have…" He broke off as he noticed that something was utterly and completely wrong with Reenie. She stood rigidly, staring directly at him, but at the same time not at him, staring straight through him, as if he didn't exist. The thing that threw him off the most was her eyes. Instead of their normal, soft green color, hers were a luminous icy blue. They seemed to cast off a pale, liquid blue glow. Her strange blue eyes were hard, devoid of all emotion, and he could tell immediately that this was not Reenie who stood before him now. It may have been her body, but it was not his best friend.

Then she spoke, and when she did her voice was her own, yet not her own. It had an icy metallic ring to it, and it caused small shivers to course down his spine. The words that she spoke were utterly horrible yet wonderful, but terrifying.

"_The one you are searching for is heading for the great western city. But, heed my warning! For with her an ancient evil is rising, following in her path, and steadily growing in power._

"_If it succeeds in it's rising, the Fire Dragon shall come again, wakening from its long rest beneath the ocean, held at bay all this time, pouring out all its anger, hate, all its malice and cruelty onto the unprotected world beneath it. Nothing shall stand in its path. Nothing shall be able to stop it._

"_The earth will be destroyed, all its people dead, and the good in the hearts of the Pokemon twisted into something of pure evil. Mutants, destroying everything in their foul paths, will rule the world. Explosions shall erupt everywhere on the planet, and all those left living shall suffer to the greatest of extremes._

"_Ruling above them all shall be the Fire Dragon, reigning in all of its power and malice, destroying the world in the most painful way possible._

"_But, if the Fire dragon does not succeed in it's rising; if somehow its pawn is stopped from nearing the place where the Dragon sleeps, there will still be hope left. Hope that somehow the Fire Dragon can be sustained for another thousand years, nursing its wounds, before it shall try to rise again._

"_But now it is rising, gaining its power until it is so powerful it knows that nothing can stand in its path. _

"_This warning I am giving to you, so heed my words and listen with all sincerity. Go after this girl who heads for the western city, stop her from doing any more evil than she has already done, unknowingly, in the name of the Fire Dragon. Take her back to where she came from, and get the red stone from her! Bring it to Mount Pyre, not one of you must bear it, for it is evil. Take it to the mount and set it in its rightful place beside the blue stone, the one that contains its wrath._

"_But if these two are set together in any other place but Mount Pyre, they shall fuse, becoming one, and following shall be an even greater evil than the Fire Dragon alone could ever produce._

"_Listen to me and heed my warning for this is my wish, the wish of the Water Monster, who sends you on this task. Go now and do what I ask, and the world shall rest in peace for another thousand years. This is my wish. The wish of the Water Monster: Kyogre…"_

Suddenly, the luminescence left Reenie's eyes, the familiar hazel returning into them. Her eyes rolled back, and she collapsed once more. Deri jumped forward and caught her in his arms, then gently lay her down on the forest floor, and waited.


	9. Chapter 8: Forced Summons

Learning to Heal the Hurt – Book I: Fire Red

Chapter 8: Forced Summons

My whole body was one giant ache. I felt as if someone had beaten me with a stick, which wasn't far from accurate, and then thrown me against a wall numerous times. That's how horrible I was feeling. Every single inch of my flesh felt as if it was burning or covered in a large bluish-black bruise. When I first came to, the only thing I was aware of at first was the incessant pounding of a thousand drums in my head. It was so bad that I almost slipped back into unconsciousness, and would have gladly welcomed it too if something hadn't compelled me to _keep myself awake_.

Barely hanging onto my consciousness by a thread, I slowly opened my eyes. I was in a bed, was the first thing I noticed, buried up to my neck in starchy smelling sheets. The room was dim, allowing my pounding head some grace, but just enough light seeped through the drawn curtains over the large window at my left that I could manage to pick out shapes and figures in the semi-darkness. I allowed my eyes a quick sweep of my surroundings hoping to figure out my position, as I had absolutely no idea where I was stationed.

It didn't take me long to figure out that I was in a hospital because the room was entirely white, almost completely bare of any decoration, and relatively small. I had no idea where in Hoenn I was, though things were beginning to seem slightly familiar. I just couldn't place my finger on where I'd seen it before. Directly beside the small cot I lay in stood a table that supported a tiny lamp; if turned on, I guessed, it could probably illuminate the whole room quite decently.

My fight with Drake hadn't left my body in such good shape though. As I had guessed, my whole body was shrouded in ugly, purple bruises that reminded me a lot of a giant plum. The worst wound I'd received, by far, was the blow to my right arm. It, I quickly noticed, was encased in a tomb of hard, white plaster. This was definitely a major setback to my travels.

Then I remembered something extremely important, and with a small cry of dismay I began to violently pound the mattress of my cot. How could I have been so stupid? Tiny jabs of pain jarred my good arm as I punched the lumpy mattress, glaring angrily up at the ceiling. Right now I hated myself. I just couldn't believe it! I had lost my stick!

_How could I have been so stupid?_ I demanded of myself repeatedly. How could I have even dreamed of letting it out of my sight even temporarily? My stick was lying back on the side of the Sandar-Rustboro Highway, just sitting mournfully in the dust! I moaned. _How could I have been so stupid?_

"Well," I muttered in a futile attempt to console myself, "at least I still have my…" I stopped, mid-sentence, and felt my body go cold. No, no it couldn't be. It couldn't be true. Dread was crawling over my body, mingling with the cold that had already made itself at home in my limbs.

Terrorized at the result, I quickly shot my shaking hand down to my pocket, desperately hoping my speculations were not true…my groping fingers came into contact with the thin white material of the hospital gown hugging my body. I felt my blood turn to ice. No, this couldn't have happened. I had lost the Fire Red stone!

I swallowed and fell slowly back into the hard cot, too shocked to speak. No, it just couldn't be true. I couldn't have lost both of my precious objects, not now, when I needed them most… Needed them most? For what? I didn't even know what they were or how they were created (well, the stone at least, as I had witnessed the creation of my stick).

Sighing heavily I balled my fingers into tight fists and then released them. I stared dismally up at the plain plaster ceiling of the room I inhabited, inwardly turning over thoughts of what I might have done differently to actually keep my stick with me. _Why was this stick so important to me anyway?_ I mused to myself. _It just seemed to draw me to it, giving me a strange sense of attachment._ I held the same bond with the Fire Red stone too, I realized.

_Where was I anyway?_ I asked myself lazily as I shifted my weight slightly. The last thing I remembered was flying headlong into the dashboard of Darren and Julia's small silver vehicle, and then nothing. What had happened while I was lying unconscious?

Letting my eyes do another quick sweep of the room, I desperately hoped for some grea6t miracle, hoped that my stone or stick would just magically appear. I blinked and my eyes flew wide open in amazement and wonder. As if it had somehow sensed my inward wish, the Fire Red stone was lying peacefully on the little nightstand beside my cot, as safe as could be. I nearly chocked as my eyes came to rest on it I was so surprised. I could have sworn the stone had not been there mere seconds ago!

I wasn't complaining though. Slowly, painfully, I extended my arm out toward the stone and took it into my left hand, the one not entombed in a hindering mass of hard plaster. I grinned as the familiar shock of power jolted through my body, sending tiny sensations, like wild fire, rushing through my veins. It was wonderful!

If only I had my stick now, everything, well almost, would be all right. Again, my stone seemed to hear my silent thoughts for it began to hum and vibrate, something I'd never encountered with it before. A harsh red light began to build up in the small object as it began to grow warmer and warmer in my palm. Suddenly, brilliant light began to spill forth from the hidden depths of the stone as my fingers began to burn with the intensity of the light and heat in the object. What the heck was it doing now?

A burning, yet delightfully soothing sensation raced down my arm and through my body, dulling the continual aching pain residing there, and flared into brightness again. Power was moving out from my hand to the corner of the room across from where I lay in tiny threads of brightness. If I had thought the light was bright before, the next flare was like the blazing inferno of the sun next to a burning ember from a dying fire. As this flare erupted into its full brilliance, I felt a throbbing pressure begin to build up in the room, becoming heavier and heavier by the second as the light got brighter and brighter, seeming to pound into my skull as if to crack my head open! I could barely keep myself from screaming! Then, just as suddenly as it had come, the red light dissipated, quickly, and it dimmed to a soft, almost soothing glow. The pressure in the room seemed to pop, and everything returned to normal.

Staring out over the room, I glanced about for the outcome of that strange encounter. I was beginning to understand enough now about my strange stone to know that when the Fire Red stone did something like that, well, something strange happened. My hunch proved true as my searching eyes came to rest upon my stick standing in the far corner of the room. I blinked, totally amazed by this new improvement. I knew for a fact that the stick hadn't been there before. Somehow the Fire Red stone had summoned it.

I stretched out my hand toward the strange, smooth stick and wasn't surprised at all when, even though I was still a couple feel away from it, a soft red glow shot out from my fingers, engulfed the stick and began to pull it toward me. I stared at it in unblinking awe as it slowly closed the gap between us, engulfed in a cushion of soft red light that flowed steadily from my outstretched fingers. Once the stick reached me I clasped it in my outstretched hands, lay it on my lap and began to study it.

The wood was still its same strange smoothness, feeling almost like wax beneath my

searching fingertips. It seemed almost as if it hadn't changed at all. Except for one small detail. At the very top of the staff, where it used to be capped with a bulging knob of white wood, now stood a deep red, perfectly symmetrical stone sphere. Its strikingly crimson surface glinted brightly in the early morning light peaking through a small gap in the curtains cloaking the window of my room. Now how did that happen? I reached out a tentative finger to stroke the round stone sphere and wasn't at all surprised when a shock of red power zipped through my body.

I smiled, clenching my left hand firmly around the center of the staff, laid it securely in my lap and gripped the Fire Red stone in my right hand, or what protruded of it from my cast. I had my stick and my stone, what more did I need? Slowly I lay my head back down on the pillow and fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.

The next week passed by in a blur of whirling confusion, nothing ever really seeming to become a reality for me after the incident with the stick. My days were filled with people; people rushing here, people rushing there, people speaking incomprehensible words that just seemed to enter one of my bruised and battered ears and flow right out the other. I couldn't focus on anything for very long, my mind wandering off into thoughts of other things, each in different directions. I was in my own dream world most of the time.

One of the very few events of that week that wasn't full of rushing confusion was the day that Reenie and Deri materialized into my life again. They came with somber, worried expressions, but behind that I also sensed a strange, almost fearful curiosity. What about, I had no idea. I think they tried to tell me their story, but by then I was already sucked back down into my vortex of whirling confusion.

There was a second event that week that wasn't foggy and blurred for me. That was the arrival of Darren and Julia around half way through the week (at least I think it was half way through the week…). They were packed full with worlds of apology and sympathy and empathy and all those other –athy's that I didn't know about, pouring them out into my poor overused brain as if their words would somehow reverse what had happened during my time with them. They told me they were terribly sorry about the car accident, and sorry about Drake's bad behavior (though I believed he was the only one accountable for his actions), and sorry I got hurt, sorry I was in the hospital, etc., etc., etc. The one thing that was good about their visit was that they promised they would pay all my hospital bills, though, in truth, the prospect of money hadn't even crossed my mind until then. Julia mentioned that she would even call my aunt for me too, which confused me for a minute because I didn't even have any living aunts, until I remembered what I'd told them in the car, and flatly refused the offer. I said I'd do it myself in my own time. Eventually I was able to keep their greatly unwanted questions at bay and even managed to get them to leave me alone, which was just about all I wanted right then, before I was plunged back into that drowsy unawareness.

I never saw Drake again (which was probably a good thing as both of us might've gone berserk), but I did manage to gather from Darren and Julia's short visit that he was over at their hotel room, sulking on his bed, with only minor scrapes and bruises, plus a very sore face from where the seatbelt buckle had made deadly contact with his jaw. Other than that he was completely fine, having woken up soon after the car crash without any memory of the pain the red power had inflicted on him, which was what had caused him to pass out in the first place. Damn it.

Hell to him. He just had to escape almost completely unharmed while I got thrown into a hospital with a broken arm and a concussion! Besides, our fight had been interrupted/postponed by the car accident and we hadn't been able to fight to the end. Well, not death but you know what I mean…

The only really strange thing that happened that week, beside the stick incident, was that all my injuries seemed to heal unnaturally fast. One day they were there and the next they were not. Bam! Gone! Just like that!

Within two days all of my cuts, scrapes and bruises, ever single one of them, had healed completely, disappearing without even one tiny scar or dent in the skin. By the third day the bump on my skull had managed to flatten itself out and disappear, the constant throbbing in my head fleeing with it. The strangest thing of all though, the thing that baffled even the doctors, was that my broken arm healed completely within six days, or at least enough so I could shed that dratted cast! Even the rehab took only two days before my arm was completely returned to its full strength and health.

In truth I had absolutely no idea what had caused my injuries to heal so quickly, not that I was complaining or anything, but I later suspected that the Fire Red stone had something to do with it.

As for the Fire Red stone and my stick, they were by my side ever single minute of the day, never leaving my over attentive sight. To them I was like a mother, watching over her children, never letting them come to any harm. I think this greatly amused the hospital staff, as they never complained. Whenever I came past, toting my stick in my good hand they would smile with great amusement and make some remark on how much I cared for that stick. Of course, they wouldn't understand how much it meant to me.

Barely a day after my rehab sessions ended the doctors declared me well enough to be released from the hospital. This served as a major problem for me. I didn't have anywhere to go, and I wasn't about to let this small piece of information reach anyone.

"Geeze, Talia, I still can't believe your arm healed that fast! It's just not logical!"

I shook my head toward Deri's bewildered figure as he paced back and forth across the rugged carpet set in front of the couch I'd situated myself on and shrugged, "Well it did."

"I'm a doctors son! I should know this! Maybe the break wasn't as bad as the doctor's thought or maybe…I don't know! It's just not logical!" Her threw his hands up in the air in a frustrated manner, glaring, extremely annoyed, down at the thin worn carpet of the lobby floor.

"Thanks for stating the obvious, Deri," Reenie rolled her green eyes skyward, flopping down on the lumpy yellow couch beside me, and began playing with the fringe of the blanket thrown lazily over it, pulling one thin strand from the next. I noted her proceedings with amusement and decided to give it a try. I began pulling the twisted threads apart, yanking at the ones all tangled up in each other. It was quite amusing, especially since my week had been far from it. That's how bored I was. Strings on a blanket amused me… "I think that just about everything these past few weeks has become illogical."

I nodded enthusiastically. Things around here were definitely not logical anymore. Especially not after the finding of the Fire Red stone and the creation of my stick. The three of us were seated (or in Deri's case, standing) out in the large, airy lobby of the hospital, just hanging out. I had gotten quite bored of staring at the monotonous, plain walls of my tiny hospital room (did you know that the far left wall of my room has exactly 76 cracks in the plaster?), so for lack of anything better to do, I had stationed myself out here in the lobby. Reenie and Deri had followed me.

Though, besides sitting here, I wanted desperately to discuss some sort of a plan about what to do next. I certainly did need one. If I was ever going to reach the bigger cities to unleash my wrath upon Pokemon I needed some way to get there. Or some plan at least. I would walk the whole way if I absolutely had to! That's how determined I was. It was just about the only way I could think of for now. After all, I didn't have any money to pay for a ride on a train or plane or boat or whatever would get me there fastest.

"Well, since you've been officially released from the hospital I'd say that we need to…" Reenie continued, raising her head to look at me.

"We need to make a plan. Exactly what I was thinking!" I interrupted her wholeheartedly. This was exactly the opportunity I'd been waiting for to bring forward the plan that had been formulating in my head for the past week. It still basically followed the same lines I had set for it in Darren's car with, well, absolutely no changes at all. I had thought about it almost every single spare moment I could get, but it still hadn't developed any since I'd first made it up. I wasn't very good at that sort of thing.

Deri stopped pacing and plopped himself down with a loud _whoosh!_ into the large cushioned chair directly opposite the lumpy couch in which Reenie and I had arranged ourselves. I glanced at him, eyebrows raised slightly at that whooshing sound that had erupted from him when he sat. He shrugged sheepishly and glanced to Reenie for support.

However, my best friend was preoccupied, staring straight out at nothing, obviously deep in thought. Deri glanced sharply over at her, a look of speculation and worry leaping into his brown gaze. He was looking at her as if he expected something.

"Uh…Reenie?" I asked, nudging my friend slightly after we had sat in silence for a few moments. "Are you okay?"

"What?" Reenie jumped, her mind sliding back into reality. "What? Oh, right. Yah, I'm okay."

Deri shook his head, curiosity taking over his face. He still expected something I could tell, but what?

"Oh, good. Well, what I was thinking was that we could-" I began enthusiastically, deciding to ignore Reenie's strange lapse from reality.

"Uh, Talia?" Reenie interrupted almost immediately, her eyebrows shooting up. Again I ignored her.

"We, or I if you prefer, can travel up to, say Slateport, and get my revenge on the Pokemon there!" I continued on, heedless of Reenie's attempts to get my attention. Once I got going on something I wasn't about to stop for just about anything. I was kind of selfish that way.

"Talia?" Reenie's voice was louder this time and more demanding.

"Then I, or we, could head up to Lilycove where there's bound to be even more Pokemon to…" I barely glanced up at Reenie or even acknowledged her voice. My mind was firmly rooted on my plan and telling them. All I wanted to do was get out of here! Focusing on my words I was surprised to find that my anger wasn't flaring up; especially because I was speaking that hated, filthy word: Pokemon. Then I realized that my anger had dissipated, not enough to make that much of a difference, but it still had.

"Talia!" Deri's half shout broke my concentration.

"What?" I snapped, glaring at him. I guess they really didn't deserve that but I was slightly annoyed at my new discovery.

"For goodness sake, Talia, Reenie has been trying to get your attention for a while!" Deri snapped back, his white face flushed with frustration and annoyance. Geeze, it didn't take much to get him angry.

"Yah, Talia, he's right," Reenie murmured, appearing slightly agitated herself.

"Well, what is it?" I sighed in an over exaggerated manner and flopped deeper into the lumpy, ugly yellow couch.

"Well, in truth I think we should just, well, you know, go back home…" Reenie's voice trailed off as she cast her eyes back down at the snarled old fringe, as if it had suddenly become very interesting. I stared at her.

"Reenie has a point, Talia," Deri continued with a glance at his friend. I turned to face him, "This little quest of yours isn't exactly well planned or anything. You have no money, nowhere to go, and nothing to keep you safe if you're attacked. The world is a dangerous place for a girl your age to be out there alone. I think it's time we headed home, and you let this whole revenge business go. Your mother is dead Talia, face it."

I stared at him, the full force of his statement washing over me for the first time. Go home. Let my mother's death go. Face the facts. None of this had ever even crossed my mind. Go home to what, though, and how? The death of my grandmother from far away Pallet Town last year had been the death of the last close family member I had. I knew I had a few cousins three times removed or something like that out in Johto somewhere, but they weren't close to me. I'd never even met them, only heard of them. Even if my grandmother were still living it wasn't like I could've gone to live with her anyway. She had been residing in a nursing home for the past eight years. What if I did go back, I reasoned. Maybe I could just forget this whole thing, about hurting Pokemon and all. My past actions had been more than a little stupid. My mother was gone, and there was absolutely nothing I could do to change that.

Maybe, just maybe, if I went back, Reenie's family would take me in. No, I told myself dejectedly, the Amier's already had five children, and their financial budget was strained as it was. I could not force it on them. Maybe someone else would take me in then, saving me from a horrible life in the foster care string… heck, I'd even go with the Kemp's if there were no one else. Maybe I should go home. I would definitely be a lot better off. Maybe I should go home…

Suddenly, something changed. The change wasn't within my whole being, later reflection revealed, but only in my conscious mind. That was enough. Right before my eyes I watched as a strange aura of flaming red light jumped into my vision, drilling into my mind. My eyes began to sting so much that they began to tear up. Then anger, pure, indescribable, fueled by something I didn't understand, anger, began to rule my mind.

I hated everyone, Pokemon and humans alike, even Reenie and Deri! Somehow I just knew that all together they had conjured up this evil plot to kill my mother, and make my life miserable, especially Pokemon, always Pokemon. All I knew right then was that I had to get away from here. I had to hurt them. Oh, would they pay! All of them, and I didn't know why.

Half blinded by that ruby aura, I turned and spat at Reenie, "I'll never return to that murdering, filthy place I once called home, or to you either!" With that, I turned away from her red hued form, and fled out the door of the hospital, straight into the heart of Rustboro City. I didn't look back.

That was only the first time I was forced to do anything against my will by the strange red spirit that had inhabited my mind for the last week. It hadn't fully taken control of my spirit yet, so I could still thankfully control my own limbs and mind to a reasonable extent. For now at least. Only, I didn't know it at the time.


End file.
